Understanding Undergraduate Students' Experiences of Telepresence Robots on Campus

Mobile robotic telepresence systems (MRPs) allow users to have a video conferencing communication channel with people in a distant environment where the MRP is physically located. In addition to having an audiovisual channel, the remote user can navigate the MRP. In this study, we interviewed ten undergraduate students after they had conducted a search-and-find task using an MRP. We found that students find it easy to maneuver the MRP and value the ability to move around in a remote space as well as having a physically embodied representation. We also found that students face challenges in approaching people due to three reasons, self-presentational concerns, novelty of robot-mediated communication, and difficulty with interpreting nonverbal cues. We will discuss our findings and provide design suggestions that could make MRPs more useful for social interactions.