A mobile robotic telepresence (MRP) system is characterized by a video conferencing system which is mounted on a mobile robotic base. The system allows remote pilot users to move the robot around while communicating with local users situated in the robot’s environment. One of the most promising application areas for MRP systems is to deploy them in homes of elderly who are in frequent contact with health care professionals and/or alarm operators. Using MRP systems, elderly can get in immediate contact with these services even without leaving their homes. However, this poses some challenges for the health care professionals and alarm operators. The alarm operators traditionally communicate with their clients using the telephone while the health care professionals see their patients face-to-face with little interference of computer applications. The encounters between health care professionals and patients typically take place at clinics. Neither the health care professionals nor the alarm operators visit the elderly in person. Accordingly, they have no knowledge about the layout of the homes or where the elderly may reside. Thus, the social communication between them and the elderly via MRP systems is more complex than their traditional interaction with elderly.
This compilation thesis makes a contribution towards understanding how interaction is affected by MRP system embodiment. The work focuses on measuring quality of interaction in MRP systems deployed in domestic settings in elder care. The thesis proposes a set of useful tools for measuring interaction quality. These tools are presence, spatial formations and sociometry. They were selected based on their ability to capture important characteristics for communication via MRP systems, e.g. social communication and mobility, and have been evaluated in experiments with real end-users, that is with alarm operators, health care professionals and elderly. The tools used to conduct the experimental evaluations of MRP systems include video-based evaluations, driving sessions and retrospective interviews. These methods were carefully chosen and take into consideration the organizational background of the participants involved and the challenge of conducting experiments with the aforementioned groups of users.