Bodies in Motion: Mobility, Presence, and Task Awareness in Telepresence

Robotic telepresence systems-videoconferencing systems that allow a remote user to drive around in another location-provide an alternative to video-mediated communications as a way of interacting over distances. These systems, which are seeing increasing use in business and medical settings, are unique in their ability to grant the remote user the ability to maneuver in a distant location. While this mobility promises increased feelings of "being there" for remote users and thus greater support for task collaboration, whether these promises are borne out, providing benefits in task performance, is unknown. To better understand the role that mobility plays in shaping the remote user's sense of presence and its potential benefits, we conducted a two-by-two (system mobility: stationary vs. mobile; task demands for mobility: low vs. high) controlled laboratory experiment. We asked participants (N = 40) to collaborate in a construction task with a confederate via a robotic telepresence system. Our results showed that mobility significantly increased the remote user's feelings of presence, particularly in tasks with high mobility requirements, but decreased task performance. Our findings highlight the positive effects of mobility on feelings of "being there," while illustrating the need to design support for effective use of mobility in high-mobility tasks.