Designing On-Body 2D Patterns to Enhance Subsidiary Communication for Telepresence Robots

As robotic telepresence becomes more prevalent, enhancing communication expressiveness is increasingly important. This paper investigates the use of 2D visual patterns displayed on a robot’s body as an additional communication channel to enrich interaction between remote users and local participants.

Through workshops with seventeen designers, ten user scenarios and corresponding visual patterns were developed across four environments: home, office, hospital, and department store. These patterns were implemented on the M4K telepresence robot, and an online survey evaluated their perceived expressiveness in each context.

Results demonstrate the potential of complex 2D visual expressions as a supplementary communication method for telepresence robots. The study proposes a design strategy and reveals user perceptions and acceptance of pattern categories such as progress indication, attention requests, and emotional expression across different environments.

@inproceedings{8525646,
  author={Lee, Minkyeong and Choi, Okyu and Lee, Hyelip and You, Bum-Jae and Han, Minsoo and Bianchi, Andrea},
  booktitle={2018 27th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)}, 
  title={Designing On-Body 2D Patterns to Enhance Subsidiary Communication for Telepresence Robots}, 
  year={2018},
  volume={},
  number={},
  pages={222-227},
  keywords={Visualization;Telepresence;Conferences;Hospitals;Service robots;Light emitting diodes},
  doi={10.1109/ROMAN.2018.8525646}}