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

本研究系统地研究了特定的移动的机器人存在（MRP）系统功能的正式和非正式的合作在不同层次的分析，包括团队合作，非正式的沟通，和社会网络结构的组织的影响。 MRP系统是安装在移动的基座上的音频和视频会议系统，由远离该位置的人操作，并且通常充当由于多种原因中的任何一种原因而不能前往那里的人的代理。 地理分布的团队和组织与那些位于同一地点的团队和组织相比，已经被证明会受到影响，部分原因是传统的以计算机为媒介的通信工具无法支持正式会议和非正式互动，例如在走廊上行走或等待电梯，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系统是分布式团队合作的一项有前途的新技术，因为它们可以支持正式和非正式的工作场所互动。 该项目将开发新的跨地理距离通信工具和知识，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、课程和多样性外联努力来加强教育。 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）开发和评估一套界面和控制技术，以改善非正式和正式沟通;（c）利用社会网络分析，研究在一个组织中引入MRP如何影响其社会网络的结构;及（d）透过一系列实地研究，在界面、团队及组织层面整合有关技术及研究结果。 这项研究将有助于计算机介导的通信和计算机支持的合作工作领域，通过开发新的理论和理解人们如何通过远程呈现机器人在正式的小组会议和非正式的互动。它将通过开发与远程呈现机器人进行交互的新技术和工具，为人机交互、机器人技术和相关领域做出贡献。它将有助于理论的距离如何影响组织结构，通过探索网络层面的影响远程工作通过MRP与传统的计算机为媒介的通信工具。最后，该项目将有助于建立新的理解MRP技术的各个功能之间的关系，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.