CHS: Medium: Improving Distributed Teamwork Through Mobile Robotic Telepresence Systems

本研究系统地研究了特定的移动机器人在线状态(MRP)系统功能对正式和非正式协作的影响，这些协作涉及不同层次的分析，包括团队合作、非正式沟通和组织的社会网络结构。MRP系统是安装在移动基地上的音频和视频会议系统，由距离该地点一段距离的人操作，通常作为因各种原因无法前往该地点的人的代理。事实证明，与分布在一起的团队和组织相比，地理位置分散的团队和组织受到了影响，部分原因是传统的计算机中介沟通工具无法支持在走走廊或等待电梯等活动期间的正式会议和非正式互动，这些活动有助于建立工作关系并提供有关组织的有价值的信息。MRP系统是一种很有前途的分布式团队工作的新技术，因为它们可以支持正式和非正式的工作场所交互。该项目将开发跨地理距离交流的新工具和知识，供研究界和公众广泛使用。它还将通过研究生培训和开发新的课堂工具、课程和多样化推广努力来加强教育。具体而言，该项目旨在：(A)通过一系列实验室和实地研究，系统地了解远程呈现机器人对正式和非正式工作场所沟通的影响；(B)开发和评价一套改善非正式和正式沟通的界面和控制技术；(C)利用社会网络分析，审查将远程呈现机器人引入组织如何影响其社交网络结构；以及(D)通过一系列实地研究，整合界面、团队和组织各级的技术和成果。这项研究将通过开发关于人们如何在正式小组会议和非正式互动中通过远程呈现机器人进行交互的新理论和理解，为计算机中介通信和计算机支持的协作工作领域做出贡献。它将通过开发与远程呈现机器人交互和通过远程呈现机器人进行交互的新技术和工具，为人机交互、机器人和相关领域做出贡献。它将通过探索通过MRP与传统的计算机中介沟通工具远程工作的网络级影响，为距离如何影响组织结构的理论做出贡献。最后，该项目将有助于建立对MRP技术的各个特征之间的关系、该技术对分布式协作的有用性及其对组织结构的影响的新的理解。

This research systematically investigates the impact of specific Mobile Robotic Presence (MRP) system features on formal and informal collaboration across different levels of analysis, including teamwork, informal communication, and the social network structure of an organization. MRP systems are audio and video conferencing systems mounted on a mobile base, operated by someone a distance away from the location, and often serving as a surrogate for people who cannot travel there, for any of a number of reasons. Geographically distributed teams and organizations have been shown to suffer in comparison to those that are collocated, in part because conventional computer-mediated communication tools fail to support both formal meetings and informal interactions during activities like walking the hallway or waiting for the elevator that help build work relationships and provide valuable information about the organizational. MRP systems are a promising new technology for distributed teamwork because they can support both formal and informal workplace interactions. The project will develop new tools and knowledge for communication across geographic distance that will be made widely available to the research community and general public. It will also enhance education through graduate student training and the development of new classroom tools, curriculum, and diversity outreach efforts. Specifically, the project aims to: (a) develop a systematic understanding of the effects of telepresence robots on formal and informal workplace communication through a series of lab and field studies; (b) develop and evaluate a set of interface and control techniques that improve informal and formal communication; (c) examine how the introduction of MRPs into an organization influences the structure of its social network using social network analysis; and (d) integrate the techniques and findings at the interface, team and organizational levels through a set of field studies. The research will contribute to the fields of computer-mediated communication and computer-supported cooperative work by developing new theories and understandings of how people interact via telepresence robots in both formal group meetings and informal interactions. It will contribute to human-computer interaction, robotics, and related fields through the development of new techniques and tools for interacting with and through telepresence robots. It will contribute to theories of how distance affects organizational structure by exploring the network-level effects of working remotely via MRPs vs. conventional computer-mediated communication tools. Finally, the project will help build new understandings of the relationships among individual features of MRP technology, the usefulness of that technology for distributed collaboration, and its effects on organizational structure.