III-1-2: An Attention-Directed Robot for Social Telepresence
| Number | III-1-2 |
| Title | An Attention-Directed Robot for Social Telepresence |
| Authors |
Rui Yan (A*STAR) Keng Peng Tee (I2R, A*STAR) Yuanwei Chua (I2R, A*STAR) Zhiyong Huang (I2R, A*STAR) Haizhou Li (I2R, A*STAR) |
| Abstract | In this paper, we present an attention-directed robot with audiovisual attention control system for telepresence applications. The robot is able to automatically directs attention to the person of interest in the meeting. Attention direction is based on an integration of 3D sound localization and visual tracking of human face. To study the effect of automatic attention direction in the telepresence experience, we conducted a user study of a video-conferencing session between two groups of participants in two separate rooms. The users' responses show that, in the presence of automatic attention direction, the feeling of facing a remote person in the same room increases, the ease of show and tell increases, and the flow of the video-conferencing communications is smoother. These results illustrate that the attention-directed robot can enhance social telepresence. |
| [Link] |
