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

本研究从团队合作、非正式沟通和组织的社会网络结构等不同层面，系统地探讨了特定移动机器人存在（MRP）系统特征对正式和非正式协作的影响。MRP系统是安装在移动基座上的音频和视频会议系统，由远离地点的人操作，通常作为由于各种原因无法前往那里的人的替代品。地理上分散的团队和组织已经被证明比那些分布在一起的团队和组织更糟糕，部分原因是传统的计算机媒介通信工具无法支持正式会议和非正式互动，比如在走廊行走或等电梯时，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合作新技术，因为它们可以支持正式和非正式的工作场所交互。该项目将开发用于跨地理距离通信的新工具和知识，这些工具和知识将广泛提供给研究界和一般公众。它还将通过研究生培训和开发新的课堂工具、课程和多元化推广工作来加强教育。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通信的影响；(b)发展和评价一套改善非正式和正式交流的界面和控制技术；(c)利用社会网络分析，研究在组织中引入mrp如何影响其社会网络结构；(d)通过一系列实地研究，在界面、团队和组织层面整合技术和发现。该研究将通过发展人们如何通过远程呈现机器人在正式小组会议和非正式互动中的互动的新理论和理解，为计算机媒介通信和计算机支持的合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的新技术和工具，为人机交互、机器人技术和相关领域做出贡献。它将通过探索通过mrp与传统计算机媒介通信工具远程工作的网络级效应，为距离如何影响组织结构的理论做出贡献。最后，该项目将帮助建立对MRP技术各个特性之间关系的新理解，该技术对分布式协作的有用性，以及它对组织结构的影响。

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.