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 "aboutThisFile": {
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   "For a quick answer, use 'takeaway' and 'questions'. For evidence, use 'findings' (each has a verbatim quote, its location in the paper and a 'url' anchored to that finding on the paper's page).",
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  ],
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 },
 "name": "TableBot: Getting a Handle on Hybrid Collaboration by Negotiating Control of a Tabletop Telepresence Robot",
 "author": [
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Maja Dybboe"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Johannes Ellemose"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Alexander Langagergaard Vastrup"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Andriana Boudouraki"
  },
  {
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   "@id": "https://seanrintel.com/#sean-rintel",
   "name": "Sean Rintel",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/",
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    "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/serintel/",
    "https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanrintel"
   ]
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Marianne Graves Petersen"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose"
  }
 ],
 "datePublished": "2024-10",
 "doi": "10.1145/3679318.3685350",
 "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.html",
 "citation": "Maja Dybboe, Johannes Ellemose, Alexander Langagergaard Vastrup, Andriana Boudouraki, Sean Rintel, Marianne Graves Petersen, Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, and Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose. 2024. TableBot: Getting a Handle on Hybrid Collaboration by Negotiating Control of a Tabletop Telepresence Robot. NordiCHI 2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3679318.3685350",
 "bibtex": "@inproceedings{dybboe2024tablebot,\nauthor = {Dybboe, Maja and Ellemose, Johannes and Vastrup, Alexander Langagergaard and Boudouraki, Andriana and Rintel, Sean and Petersen,  Marianne Graves and Grønbæk, Jens Emil Sloth and Klokmose, Clemens Nylandsted},\ntitle = {TableBot: Getting a Handle on Hybrid Collaboration by Negotiating Control of a Tabletop Telepresence Robot},\nbooktitle = {NordiCHI 2024},\nyear = {2024},\nmonth = {October},\npublisher = {ACM},\nurl = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3679318.3685350},\ndoi = {10.1145/3679318.3685350},\n}",
 "abstract": "Mobile Remote telePresence robots (MRPs) have been explored as a promising approach to strengthen the agency and presence of remote participants in hybrid work settings. Despite the need and interest in how they might better support hybrid collaboration, substantial challenges remain in terms of their price, availability, and successful application in meeting room contexts. In response to these challenges, this paper explores the opportunities for designing lightweight telepresence robots supporting negotiation of control in hybrid meeting contexts. This paper describes a serial Research-through-Design process, exploring three iterations of design and evaluation of TableBot, a novel tabletop telepresence robot. Based on this work, we present the design of TableBot, and articulate the design space of telepresence robots for hybrid meetings in terms of three trade-offs and a framework for analysing telepresence systems regarding negotiation of control.",
 "fullTextSources": [
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   "url": "https://doi.org/10.1145/3679318.3685350",
   "label": "DOI (Free Access)"
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   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.pdf",
   "label": "Author's Copy"
  }
 ],
 "dataNotes": [
  "The paper states 'A total of 43 participants' (§4, p. 5), but Table 1 lists 2 groups of 3 (6) and 4 groups of 5 (20) in each of studies 2 and 3, i.e. 46, and the study descriptions agree: §4.1.1 has three participants per group, §4.2.1 'the pilot and four co-located participants', and §4.3.1 reuses 'the same … number and distribution of participants'. The authors confirm 46."
 ],
 "fullTextAvailable": true,
 "takeaway": "A tabletop telepresence robot with a handle lets remote and in-room people share control, and groups who actively shared it included the remote person best. Sharing worked when the remote person stated their needs and boundaries, because in-room people otherwise felt moving the robot meant moving the person.",
 "whyItMatters": {
  "stateOfTheArt": {
   "summary": "Mobile robotic telepresence gives remote people presence and agency, but the robots are expensive, one-size-fits-all, built for roaming rather than meetings, and awkward for people in the room to move or assist.",
   "quote": "the high price and one-size-fits-all design means that existing physical settings must be adapted to the MRPs, rather than them being adopted in the varied settings of hybrid collaboration",
   "location": "§1, p. 2"
  },
  "contribution": {
   "summary": "Instead of giving the remote person full control of a floor-standing robot, the authors design for control that is shared and contested with the people in the room. The authors developed this over three design iterations, and offer three design trade-offs and a framework for analysing who controls a telepresence system.",
   "quote": "TableBot, a novel, lightweight, non-humanoid tabletop telepresence robot with a handle to encourage shared control.",
   "location": "§1, p. 2"
  },
  "whoCares": {
   "summary": "Designers and researchers of telepresence robots and hybrid communication systems.",
   "quote": "We suggest using the trade-offs to explore design opportunities in the design space of hybrid communication systems, while using the framework to position the work in terms of collaborative qualities.",
   "location": "§7, p. 13"
  }
 },
 "researchQuestions": [
  "To explore the opportunities for designing lightweight telepresence robots that support negotiation of control in hybrid meetings, and how non-verbal communication such as deictic gesturing and direction of focus is expressed and understood through a robot representation."
 ],
 "concepts": [
  {
   "term": "Negotiation of control",
   "definition": "Sharing and contesting who steers the robot, and so whose choice sets the pilot's view, ranging from the pilot driving alone to people in the room picking it up.",
   "quote": "Being moved is inherently an act of negotiation between the co-located participants needing to physically move the robot, and the remote participant having their view changed by being moved around.",
   "location": "§6.2.3, p. 10"
  },
  {
   "term": "Robomorphism",
   "definition": "A concept from prior work that frames how the pilot is perceived:",
   "quote": "Schouten et al. [59] coined the term Robomorphism to describe when people apply robotic traits to a telepresence robot mediated interlocutor, perceiving them as both a human and robot simultaneously.",
   "location": "§2.2, p. 3"
  },
  {
   "term": "Pilot",
   "definition": "The remote participant driving TableBot.",
   "quote": "To refer to the remote participant who is piloting our telepresence robot, TableBot, we use the term 'pilot', to distinguish it from other research.",
   "location": "§1, p. 2"
  },
  {
   "term": "Serial Research-through-Design",
   "definition": "The authors' design process, in which findings from each study reframed the next prototype:",
   "quote": "we adopted a serial RtD approach [4, 8, 33, 70] where each iteration acted as a design experiment",
   "location": "§4, p. 4"
  }
 ],
 "method": {
  "design": "Serial Research-through-Design: three iterations of TableBot (iA, iB, iC), each with an exploratory qualitative study, reframed from lightweight design to negotiation of control to deictic capabilities.",
  "prototype": "TableBot, a small robot, 35 to 45 cm tall, that stands on the meeting table and represents a remote 'pilot' through a video call. The pilot drives its wheeled base around the tabletop from a computer and can tilt the screen and camera. These sit on an arm shaped as a handle, so people in the room can pick the robot up and move it, and with it the pilot's view. It is built from low-cost, off-the-shelf parts in a 3D-printed body. The first two versions held a smartphone for the call. The third had an integrated 7-inch screen, a fish-eye camera for a wide view, a conference speaker, and a row of LEDs. The LEDs light up to show where the pilot is looking as they move a sharp focus area within a blurred wide view. Across the studies the authors compared who could move the robot (the pilot, the people in the room, or both) and narrow versus wide views, with and without the blur.",
  "prototypeFigure": 1,
  "setting": "Hub-satellite hybrid sessions with one remote pilot and co-located participants around a table: designing a poster (study 1) and a Codenames-inspired board game (studies 2 and 3).",
  "sample": "46 study places across three studies: 2 groups of 3 in study 1 and 4 groups of 5 in each of studies 2 and 3, and aged 20-58, primarily university students from a convenience population. The paper's total of '43 participants (17 female, 26 male)' appears to be a typo (see dataNotes).",
  "n": 46,
  "duration": "Studies of 20 minutes (study 1) and three 20-minute rounds (studies 2 and 3), each followed by a focus group of around 20 minutes. The design process spanned 1.5 years.",
  "analysis": "Observation and video analysis of episodes (robot movement, conversation, inclusion of the pilot), robot movement logs, and thematic analysis of focus group interviews."
 },
 "findings": [
  {
   "headline": "Sharing control included the pilot best.",
   "summary": "In the second and third studies, where four people at a table played a board game with a fifth joining through the robot, groups that actively shared control integrated the remote pilot best. The most successful group in the second study had a pilot who was clear about needs and limits:",
   "quote": "one of the pilots was very explicit about needs from the co-located participants and boundaries, which encouraged the co-located participants to support the pilot even when not explicitly asked",
   "location": "§5.3, p. 8",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.html#at-s5-3-p-8",
   "cite": "Maja Dybboe, Johannes Ellemose, Alexander Langagergaard Vastrup, Andriana Boudouraki, Sean Rintel, Marianne Graves Petersen, Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, and Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose. 2024. TableBot: Getting a Handle on Hybrid Collaboration by Negotiating Control of a Tabletop Telepresence Robot. NordiCHI 2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3679318.3685350 (§5.3, p. 8)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Wide views for presence, narrow views for readable focus.",
   "summary": "When the authors compared camera views, everyone, remote and in the room, preferred a wide view, which gave the best sense of presence. But a narrow view made it easier to tell where the pilot was looking. LEDs showing the pilot's direction of gaze were mostly overlooked.",
   "quote": "study 3𝑖𝐶 found that all participants, remote and co-located, prefer a wide FOV, which provided the best sense of presence for both parties",
   "location": "§5.1, p. 7",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.html#at-s5-1-p-7",
   "cite": "Maja Dybboe, Johannes Ellemose, Alexander Langagergaard Vastrup, Andriana Boudouraki, Sean Rintel, Marianne Graves Petersen, Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, and Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose. 2024. TableBot: Getting a Handle on Hybrid Collaboration by Negotiating Control of a Tabletop Telepresence Robot. NordiCHI 2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3679318.3685350 (§5.1, p. 7)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Outnumbered pilots lose attention.",
   "summary": "With four people in the room, the remote pilot struggled to get attention, especially without speaking. When the pilot was not allowed to move the robot, they were more likely to be left out.",
   "quote": "It was very challenging to be unable to control [the view]. I did not feel as much a part of [the task].",
   "location": "§5.2, p. 7",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.html#at-s5-2-p-7",
   "cite": "Maja Dybboe, Johannes Ellemose, Alexander Langagergaard Vastrup, Andriana Boudouraki, Sean Rintel, Marianne Graves Petersen, Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, and Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose. 2024. TableBot: Getting a Handle on Hybrid Collaboration by Negotiating Control of a Tabletop Telepresence Robot. NordiCHI 2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3679318.3685350 (§5.2, p. 7)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Moving the pilot felt invasive, but helped.",
   "summary": "People in the room felt that moving the robot violated the pilot's personal space, while pilots mostly found being moved helpful. When the robot visibly glitched, people quickly helped. With the polished final version, they assumed no help was needed.",
   "quote": "While the colocated participants mostly expressed it as feeling invasive of the pilot's personal space, similar to grabbing someone's body, the pilots did not experience the act of being moved as negative.",
   "location": "§6.2.3, p. 10",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.html#at-s6-2-3-p-10",
   "cite": "Maja Dybboe, Johannes Ellemose, Alexander Langagergaard Vastrup, Andriana Boudouraki, Sean Rintel, Marianne Graves Petersen, Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, and Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose. 2024. TableBot: Getting a Handle on Hybrid Collaboration by Negotiating Control of a Tabletop Telepresence Robot. NordiCHI 2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3679318.3685350 (§6.2.3, p. 10)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Shared control can turn into seizure.",
   "summary": "In one group, a participant anxious that the robot would drive off the edge of the table lifted it out of the pilot's control, just after the pilot had been given the freedom to roam. The pilot's view of it:",
   "quote": "It was a bit annoying when [the co-located participant] just picked me up and just held me, kind of hostage.",
   "location": "§5.3, p. 8",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.html#at-s5-3-p-8-2",
   "cite": "Maja Dybboe, Johannes Ellemose, Alexander Langagergaard Vastrup, Andriana Boudouraki, Sean Rintel, Marianne Graves Petersen, Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, and Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose. 2024. TableBot: Getting a Handle on Hybrid Collaboration by Negotiating Control of a Tabletop Telepresence Robot. NordiCHI 2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3679318.3685350 (§5.3, p. 8)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Person or robot? It shifts.",
   "summary": "Whether people treated the robot as their colleague or as a piece of equipment shifted from moment to moment, and this shaped their willingness to move it. When glitches made it seem more like a robot, moving it felt acceptable:",
   "quote": "I did not see [the pilot] or something [human], so it was not that bad [to move the robot].",
   "location": "§5.3, p. 8",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.html#at-s5-3-p-8-3",
   "cite": "Maja Dybboe, Johannes Ellemose, Alexander Langagergaard Vastrup, Andriana Boudouraki, Sean Rintel, Marianne Graves Petersen, Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, and Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose. 2024. TableBot: Getting a Handle on Hybrid Collaboration by Negotiating Control of a Tabletop Telepresence Robot. NordiCHI 2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3679318.3685350 (§5.3, p. 8)"
  }
 ],
 "questions": [
  {
   "question": "Should people in the room be able to move a remote colleague's telepresence robot?",
   "answer": "It can help, if control is negotiated. In studies of a tabletop robot, groups that shared control with its remote driver included that person best, and drivers mostly found being moved helpful. But drivers need a way to refuse. One anxious participant lifted the robot out of its driver's control.",
   "source": "Maja Dybboe, Johannes Ellemose, Alexander Langagergaard Vastrup, Andriana Boudouraki, Sean Rintel, Marianne Graves Petersen, Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, and Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose. 2024. TableBot: Getting a Handle on Hybrid Collaboration by Negotiating Control of a Tabletop Telepresence Robot. NordiCHI 2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3679318.3685350",
   "basedOn": [
    {
     "location": "§5.3, p. 8",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.html#at-s5-3-p-8"
    },
    {
     "location": "§6.2.3, p. 10",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.html#at-s6-2-3-p-10"
    },
    {
     "location": "§5.3, p. 8",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.html#at-s5-3-p-8-2"
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "question": "Is a wide camera view better for someone joining through a telepresence robot?",
   "answer": "Mostly, yes. With a tabletop telepresence robot, everyone, remote and in the room, preferred a wide view, which gave the best sense of presence. But a narrow view made it easier to tell where the remote person was looking. LEDs meant to show this went mostly unnoticed.",
   "source": "Maja Dybboe, Johannes Ellemose, Alexander Langagergaard Vastrup, Andriana Boudouraki, Sean Rintel, Marianne Graves Petersen, Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, and Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose. 2024. TableBot: Getting a Handle on Hybrid Collaboration by Negotiating Control of a Tabletop Telepresence Robot. NordiCHI 2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3679318.3685350",
   "basedOn": [
    {
     "location": "§5.1, p. 7",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.html#at-s5-1-p-7"
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "question": "Why do people hesitate to help a remote person on a telepresence robot?",
   "answer": "Because moving the robot can feel like invading the remote person's personal space. In studies of a tabletop robot, people moved it readily when glitches made it seem more like a machine (a mixed human-and-robot perception called robomorphism). A polished design led them to assume no help was needed.",
   "source": "Maja Dybboe, Johannes Ellemose, Alexander Langagergaard Vastrup, Andriana Boudouraki, Sean Rintel, Marianne Graves Petersen, Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, and Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose. 2024. TableBot: Getting a Handle on Hybrid Collaboration by Negotiating Control of a Tabletop Telepresence Robot. NordiCHI 2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3679318.3685350",
   "basedOn": [
    {
     "location": "§6.2.3, p. 10",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.html#at-s6-2-3-p-10"
    },
    {
     "location": "§5.3, p. 8",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.html#at-s5-3-p-8-3"
    }
   ]
  }
 ],
 "cites": [
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/being-in-on-the-action-in-mobile-robotic-telepresence-rethinking-presence-in-hybrid-participation.html",
   "title": "“Being In On The Action” in Mobile Robotic Telepresence: Rethinking Presence in Hybrid Participation",
   "location": "p. 13"
  },
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/hybrid-meetings-in-the-modern-workplace-stories-of-success-and-failure.html",
   "title": "Hybrid Meetings in the Modern Workplace: Stories of Success and Failure",
   "location": "p. 15"
  },
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/i-cant-get-round-recruiting-assistance-in-mobile-robotic-telepresence.html",
   "title": "“I can’t get round”: Recruiting Assistance in Mobile Robotic Telepresence",
   "location": "p. 13"
  },
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/there-is-a-bit-of-grace-missing-understanding-non-use-of-mobile-robotic-telepresence-in-a-global-technology-company.html",
   "title": "“There is a Bit of Grace Missing”: Understanding Non-use of Mobile Robotic Telepresence in a Global Technology Company",
   "location": "p. 13"
  },
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/vroom-virtual-robot-overlay-for-online-meetings.html",
   "title": "VROOM: Virtual Robot Overlay for Online Meetings",
   "location": "p. 14"
  },
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/what-was-hybrid-a-systematic-review-of-hybrid-collaboration-and-meetings-research.html",
   "title": "What was Hybrid? A Systematic Review of Hybrid Collaboration and Meetings Research",
   "location": "p. 14"
  }
 ],
 "quantitative": [],
 "implications": [
  {
   "summary": "Tabletop telepresence robots involve three design trade-offs. These are wide field of view versus clear locus of attention, polished design versus expressing limitations, and autonomy versus assistance.",
   "quote": "The trade-offs emphasise that there is no one-design-fits-all approach.",
   "location": "§7, p. 13"
  },
  {
   "summary": "A framework mapping who controls the robot against how the pilot is perceived. Designing along its diagonal, where a robomorphic perception supports shared control, can help.",
   "quote": "Along this downward diagonal, the Robomorphic perception supports the negotiation of control of the system, encouraging the co-located participants to assist the remote participant, without dehumanising the remote participant.",
   "location": "§6.3, p. 11"
  },
  {
   "summary": "Hybrid meetings' asymmetries are usually tackled by imitating physical presence and giving the pilot full control. Designs can instead embrace those asymmetries, as TableBot does with its non-human 'cute' form. They can use negotiated control and non-human abilities, such as spikes on the handle to signal non-consent to being moved.",
   "quote": "Opportunities remain to lean further into different asymmetries, and explore how they affect hybrid collaboration",
   "location": "§6.4, p. 12"
  }
 ],
 "limitations": [
  {
   "summary": "Studies used equal power distributions among participants and a playful setting and task, so not all findings transfer to traditional work meetings.",
   "quote": "Not all findings are thus transferable to a traditional work related hybrid meeting.",
   "location": "§Limitations, p. 13"
  },
  {
   "summary": "TableBot is small, which may affect the impression of the pilot's authority."
  },
  {
   "summary": "Participants were recruited through the authors' networks and some knew each other. The effect of these relationships and of personality was not examined."
  }
 ],
 "figures": [
  {
   "src": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/figures/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot/fig-1.webp",
   "caption": "Figure 1: An overview of the iterations of TableBot and the framing used in the design process: Iteration 1 (iA) framed the design in terms of a lightweight design. Iteration 2 (iB) reframed the design to focus on negotiation of control. Iteration 3 (iC) reframed the design again, to focus on deictic capabilities in hybrid settings. Limitations and opportunities in the design space were identified through explorative studies, which motivated the reframings.",
   "alt": "Photos of three TableBot prototypes: iA and iB hold a smartphone on a handle-shaped arm over a wheeled base, and iC has an integrated screen, fish-eye camera and LEDs, with the framing of each iteration.",
   "location": "Fig. 1, p. 1",
   "credit": "Figure 1 from Maja Dybboe, Johannes Ellemose, Alexander Langagergaard Vastrup, Andriana Boudouraki, Sean Rintel, Marianne Graves Petersen, Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, and Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose. 2024. TableBot: Getting a Handle on Hybrid Collaboration by Negotiating Control of a Tabletop Telepresence Robot. NordiCHI 2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3679318.3685350"
  },
  {
   "src": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/figures/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot/fig-9.webp",
   "caption": "Figure 9: A framework for exploring how the pilot is perceived [64] in relation to who has control of the robot (negotiation of control, see Figure 7). Robomorphism [59] lies in the perception of a remote participant not as a person, but neither as completely non-human. The area within the red dotted line indicate a dynamic range where we find the combination of negotiated control and a Robomorphic perception can be beneficial to both remote and co-located participants.",
   "alt": "Grid: columns run from the pilot having full control to the co-located having full control, and rows from 'a person' to 'non-human'. Prior work and TableBot episodes are placed in cells. A dashed ellipse marks the diagonal.",
   "location": "Fig. 9, p. 12",
   "credit": "Figure 9 from Maja Dybboe, Johannes Ellemose, Alexander Langagergaard Vastrup, Andriana Boudouraki, Sean Rintel, Marianne Graves Petersen, Jens Emil Sloth Grønbæk, and Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose. 2024. TableBot: Getting a Handle on Hybrid Collaboration by Negotiating Control of a Tabletop Telepresence Robot. NordiCHI 2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3679318.3685350"
  }
 ],
 "pageNumbersReferTo": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/tablebot-getting-a-handle-on-hybrid-collaboration-by-negotiating-control-of-a-tabletop-telepresence-robot.pdf",
 "verified": "2026-10-25",
 "studyFigure": {
  "about": "The opening figure on this paper's page, made for the site with AI assistance from this verified brief. It is not the paper's own figure. Evidence entries index this file's quantitative, findings and limitations arrays.",
  "study": {
   "kind": "single",
   "summary": "Research through design over 1.5 years, with three versions of TableBot, a tabletop telepresence robot. Each version had an exploratory study with small groups, 46 study places in all, mostly university students.",
   "steps": [
    {
     "label": "Three versions, three studies",
     "detail": "Findings from each study reshaped the next robot, from a lightweight design to shared control to showing where the remote person looked."
    },
    {
     "label": "Hybrid group tasks",
     "detail": "One remote pilot joined people at a table, two groups of 3 designing a poster, then groups of 5 playing a board game."
    },
    {
     "label": "Conditions varied",
     "detail": "The studies varied who could move the robot, and whether the pilot had a narrow or wide camera view."
    },
    {
     "label": "Analysis",
     "detail": "Video of episodes, robot movement logs and focus groups of around 20 minutes were analysed for themes."
    }
   ]
  },
  "tool": {
   "heading": "The robot",
   "steps": [
    {
     "title": "Join by video",
     "text": "TableBot stands on the meeting table, 35 to 45 cm tall, and shows the remote pilot through a video call."
    },
    {
     "title": "Drive and look",
     "text": "The pilot drives its wheeled base around the tabletop from a computer and tilts the screen and camera."
    },
    {
     "title": "Pick it up",
     "text": "The screen and camera sit on an arm shaped as a handle, so people in the room can lift and move the robot.",
     "part": true
    },
    {
     "title": "Show where the pilot looks",
     "text": "The third version moved a sharp focus area within a blurred wide view, and a row of lights showed its direction."
    }
   ],
   "note": "Moving the robot also moves the pilot's view, so who steers it is shared and negotiated."
  },
  "findings": {
   "legend": null,
   "stages": [
    {
     "title": "Who controlled the robot",
     "sub": "observations in the board game studies",
     "items": [
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "In these studies, groups that actively shared control included the remote pilot best.",
       "detail": "In the most successful group, the pilot was explicit about needs and boundaries. People in the room then helped even without being asked.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[0]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "In these studies, an outnumbered pilot struggled to get attention, especially without speaking.",
       "detail": "Pilots who were not allowed to move the robot were more likely to be left out.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[2]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "In one group, an anxious participant lifted the robot out of the pilot's control.",
       "detail": "The participant feared the robot would drive off the table, just after the pilot was given freedom to roam. The pilot said it felt like being held hostage.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[4]"
       ]
      }
     ]
    },
    {
     "title": "Being moved and being seen",
     "sub": "what participants said in focus groups",
     "items": [
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "People in the room said moving the robot invaded the pilot's personal space.",
       "detail": "Pilots mostly said being moved was helpful. People quickly helped when the robot visibly glitched, but assumed the polished final version needed no help.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[3]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "In these studies, people treated the robot sometimes as a colleague and sometimes as equipment.",
       "detail": "This shift shaped willingness to move it. When glitches made it seem more like a robot, moving it felt acceptable.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[5]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "Participants in the third study, remote and in the room, all preferred a wide camera view.",
       "detail": "The wide view gave the best sense of presence, but a narrow view made it easier to tell where the pilot was looking. The direction lights were mostly overlooked.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[1]"
       ]
      }
     ]
    }
   ]
  },
  "keyTerm": [
   "negotiation of control",
   "robomorphism"
  ],
  "takeaway": "A tabletop telepresence robot with a handle can support negotiation of control, letting people in the room help include the remote person. Robomorphism, seeing the robot as part person and part machine, may make moving it feel acceptable."
 }
}