Face-to-face communication is still important despite the proliferation of telecommunication tools such as telephone and e-mail, and in 2020, the impact of the new coronavirus infection has led to a rapid increase in the use of video calling applications around the world. However, there are many situations where we feel the limitations of such applications. Telepresence, a technology that reproduces the presence of a person in a remote location, is attracting attention. Telepresence was originally a technology for remote control by an operator in a dangerous place. However, since it has been extended to the context of communication, both the sense of presence felt by remote users and the sense of presence felt by local users toward remote users have become important. In this project, we will study an approach to improve the sense of presence in telepresence robots equipped with telepresence technology.
As telecommunication systems become more widespread, we will be able to live our lives free from physical constraints, without spending time on the act of moving. In fact, during the epidemic of the new coronavirus infection, the “work-cation” style, in which people work while traveling, was actively used. Some companies have also decided to reduce the size of their headquarters in the capital. In Japan, many companies and other social activities are concentrated in urban areas. Inevitably, people living in these three metropolitan areas account for 51.8% of Japan’s population, making the concentration of population in urban areas a challenge. However, as online telecommunication advances, the difference between rural and urban areas becomes less of an issue. It may even solve problems such as the disparity between urban and rural areas and the concentration of medical services in urban areas.
Nonverbal behavior and physical communication are also essential for communication. However, most of the existing telepresence robots show only the face on the display. However, most of the existing telepresence robots show only the face on the display, so it is possible to extend the modality of communication by extending the display range of the remote user. In this project, we will implement a prototype and investigate the relationship between the display area of the remote user and the sense of presence.
If a telepresence system with enhanced physicality is implemented with a two-dimensional display, the presence of the remote user’s background may interfere with the sense of presence. Therefore, in this project, we investigate the relationship between the remote background and the sense of presence, and implement an approach to solve this problem.