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

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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.