Tourbot-interactive museum tele-presence through robotic avatars

TOURBOT, the acronym of a project entitled “Interactive Museum Tele-presence Through Robotic Avatars”, represents an EU-IST funded activity aiming at developing alternative ways for interactive museum tele-presence [1]. In this paper we present the project framework, with emphasis on the project goals, approach and innovations, as well as the expected benefits and results.The overal goal of TOURBOT is the development of an interactive tour-guide robot able to provide individual access to museums’ exhibits and cultural heritage over the Internet. TOURBOT operates as the user’s avatar in the museum (ie as a remote “representative” of the