Towards a Methodology for Longitudinal Evaluation of Social Robotic Telepresence for Elderly

This paper describes a methodology for performing longitudinal evaluations when a social robotic telepresence system is deployed in realistic environments. This work is the core of an Ambient Assisted Living Project called ExCITE, Enabling Social Interaction Through Telepresence. The ExCITE project is geared towards an elderly audience and has as aim to increase social interaction among elderly, their family and healthcare services by using robotic telepresence. The robotic system used in the project is called the Giraff robot and over a three year period, prototypes of this platform are deployed at a number of test-sites in different European countries where user feedback is collected and feedback into the refinement of the prototype. In this paper, we discuss the methodology of ExCITE in particular relation to other methodologies for longitudinal evaluation. The paper also provides a discussion of the possible pitfalls and risks in performing longitudinal studies of this nature particularly as they relate to social robotic telepresence technologies

Remote control of a networked mobile robot using an immersive locomotion interface

Recently, the concept of behavioral media using a mobile robot has emerged in tele-robotics, where the mobile robot behaves as a user’s second body or an agent in a remote site. An important issue in behavioral media is how to control the robot intuitively immersing a user into a remote site. This paper describes a new approach which combines locomotion interface and immersive projection display of a remote site for controlling a networked mobile robot. We have developed a prototype system and have evaluated the usability of the system with experiments. 1