Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-84).Telepresence robots have emerged as a novel solution to meeting the social communication needs of nomadic workers. This thesis provides an overview of non-verbal communication cues for telepresence robot applications, and a snapshot of the competitive landscape for commercially available telepresence robots today. It then follows the design of a low-cost telepresence robot which can be remotely operated whilst running Skype, and discusses how further non-verbal communication cues could be incorporated to increase the feeling of social presence. Specifically, face tracking and the ability to communicate gaze is developed in the final prototype.by Jennifer S. Milne.S.M
