An exploration of Mobile Robotic Telepresence and its place in the hybrid office.

该博士探讨移动机器人远程呈现(MRP)能够有效地调解通信的能力，以及它在未来或混合工作中可能具有的价值。MRP是一种视频会议系统，它利用远程控制的机器人基础，允许用户在太空中自主移动，并具有具体的物理存在。这项技术已经被广泛应用于各种场合(医院、学校、办公室)，但到目前为止还没有成功成为主流。尽管对MRP进行了广泛的研究，但很少有研究将民族方法信息的人种学方法应用于这一主题，因此缺乏关于使用的相互作用细节的报告，这将提供对媒介如何支持或阻碍相互作用的更深层次的理解。这一博士学位的研究主要通过定性的方法进行，包括访谈和调查，并以民族志为中心，深入研究通过MRP互动是如何组织的。对长期和专家用户的半结构化访谈研究呈现了远程MRP用户的现象学，并将文献综述结果放在背景中。一项对远程和本地MRP用户执行协作任务的观察研究突出了求助互动的重要性，并揭示了这些互动是如何通过不对称的MRP媒介进行的。然后，对家庭中MRP的使用进行了自传式的、纵向的人种学研究，探索了“中介访问”现象，并解开了互动中更“程序化”的元素-到达和离开--以及在访问期间一起“居住”的方式，以及出现的机动性、自主存在和自发的性质。最后，一项正在进行的关于办公室使用MRP的研究记录了推出过程，并跟踪用户的态度和体验，目的是确定机器人远程呈现在新的混合工作环境中的好处和局限性，并检查它如何适应办公室的技术生态系统。

This PhD explores to what capacity Mobile Robotic Telepresence (MRP) is able to effectively mediate communication and what its value might be in the future or hybrid work. MRPs are video conferencing systems that utilise a remotely controlled robotic base to allow the user to autonomously move in space and have an embodied physical presence. The technology has been used in a wide variety of settings (hospitals, schools, offices) but has so far not succeeded in becoming mainstream. Despite breadth of research on MRP, few studies have applied an ethnomethodologically-informed ethnographic approach to the subject, so there is a lack of reports on the interactional details of use, which would provide a deeper understanding on how the medium supports or hinders interaction. The research in this PhD is primarily conducted through qualitative methods, including interviews and surveys, and centred around ethnographic, in-depth examinations of how interactions via MRP are organised. A semi-structured interview study of long term and expert users presents the phenomenology of being a remote MRP user, and puts the literature review findings into context. An observation study, of remote and local MRP users performing a collaborative task, highlights the prominence of help soliciting interactions and unpacks how those are conducted via the asymmetrical medium of MRP. Then an autobiographical, longitudinal ethnographic study of MRP use in the home explores the phenomenon of `mediated visiting' and unpacks the more `procedural' elements of interactions---arriving and departing---alongside ways of `dwelling' together during a visit, and the qualities of mobility, autonomous presence and spontaneity that emerge. Finally, an ongoing study of MRP use in an office documents the rollout process and tracks users' attitudes and experiences, with the aim of identifying the benefits and limitations of robotic telepresence in the new hybrid work environment and examining how it might fit in the technological ecosystem of the office.