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 "@type": "ScholarlyArticle",
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 "aboutThisFile": {
  "whatThisIs": "A research brief: a structured summary of one paper, prepared for seanrintel.com from the paper's full text.",
  "howItWasMade": "This brief was prepared with AI assistance and published by Sean Rintel. It is not the authors' published text.",
  "whatIsVerbatim": "Only 'quote' fields, figure captions and 'abstract' are the authors' own words. Research questions follow the paper's wording where it states them. Takeaway, summaries, answers, definitions and method are the site's plain-language paraphrase.",
  "howItIsChecked": "Before publication every quote is matched against the paper and every number in the brief is found in it. 'verified' is the date of the last check.",
  "howToUse": [
   "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).",
   "Locations such as '§5.2, p. 9' refer to the version at 'pageNumbersReferTo'.",
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  ],
  "authorship": "Sean Rintel's role on each paper: lead author when he is first author, sole author when he is the only author, and otherwise senior author. Senior author here means the senior researcher on the team, whatever his position in the author list.",
  "howToCite": "Cite the paper, not this file: use 'citation' or the ready-made 'bibtex' (DOI where given) and name every author. Attribute paraphrase to the paper's findings, and use quotation marks only for 'quote' text."
 },
 "name": "VR-Enabled Telepresence as a Bridge for People, Environments, and Experiences",
 "author": [
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Brennan Jones"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Yaying Zhang"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Priscilla N. Y. Wong"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "@id": "https://seanrintel.com/#sean-rintel",
   "name": "Sean Rintel",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/",
   "sameAs": [
    "https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0840-0546",
    "https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xc25GRgAAAAJ",
    "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q102369654",
    "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/serintel/",
    "https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanrintel"
   ]
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Yasamin Heshmat"
  }
 ],
 "datePublished": "2020-04",
 "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/vr-enabled-telepresence-as-a-bridge-for-people-environments-and-experiences.html",
 "citation": "Brennan Jones, Yaying Zhang, Priscilla N. Y. Wong, Sean Rintel, and Yasamin Heshmat. 2020. VR-Enabled Telepresence as a Bridge for People, Environments, and Experiences. CHI 2020.",
 "bibtex": "@inproceedings{jones2020vr-enabled,\nauthor = {Jones, Brennan and Zhang, Yaying and Wong, Priscilla N. Y. and Rintel, Sean and Heshmat, Yasamin},\ntitle = {VR-Enabled Telepresence as a Bridge for People, Environments, and Experiences},\norganization = {ACM},\nbooktitle = {CHI 2020},\nyear = {2020},\nmonth = {April},\nurl = {https://seanrintel.com/publications/vr-enabled-telepresence-as-a-bridge-for-people-environments-and-experiences.html},\nnote = {Workshop on Social VR Workshop},\n}",
 "abstract": "Rather than thinking of Virtual Reality (VR) as enabling geo-distant people to go to a common place, we have a more expansive view of VR as a bridge between people, environments, and experiences. We are interested in using VR and the related technology of Augmented Reality (AR), as tools to(1)bring a distant part of the physical world to someone, and (2) bring someone to a distant part of the physical world. This workshop paper discusses two design explorations we conducted to explore these subtle but important distinctions. We first discuss a unidirectional VR robotic telepresence interface that immerses a remote user in a distant environment, which was investigated for its value in outdoor exploration. We then discuss a bi-directional asymmetric VR-AR system that adds a photorealistic avatar for the remote user on to VR robotic telepresence. The avatar is viewed in third person by the local user as superimposed over the robot, and viewed in first person by the remote user. While the underlying technologies still need much development, we see promise in the ‘VR as bridge’ concept as a way to open up the design space to a critical need for flexible, diverse, and inclusive user needs.",
 "fullTextSources": [
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   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/vr-enabled-telepresence-as-a-bridge-for-people-environments-and-experiences.pdf",
   "label": "Author's Copy"
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 ],
 "fullTextAvailable": true,
 "takeaway": "'VR as a bridge' connects people to real places, not only virtual ones. An AR avatar on a telepresence robot seemed to help partners read gestures and gaze. But some remote users didn't identify with it, perhaps because researcher-made photorealistic avatars felt uncanny, so self-made or cartoon ones might help.",
 "whyItMatters": {
  "stateOfTheArt": {
   "summary": "Social VR usually brings distant people together in a shared virtual place, which can be empowering, but it gives no access to the real world.",
   "quote": "VR technologies provide connection opportunities to many people who would otherwise not have them.",
   "location": "§Introduction, p. 2"
  },
  "contribution": {
   "summary": "A 'VR as bridge' view of social VR, illustrated by two design explorations that use VR and AR to connect a remote person with a real, distant place and the people in it.",
   "quote": "We are interested in using VR and the related technology of Augmented Reality (AR), as tools to (1) bring a distant part of the physical world to someone, and (2) bring someone to a distant part of the physical world.",
   "location": "Abstract, p. 1"
  },
  "whoCares": {
   "summary": "Social VR designers and researchers, and people who cannot easily travel to work or social events.",
   "quote": "People should not be restricted from participation in work or social events because travel is difficult for reasons such as disability, travel/visa restrictions, or lack of transportation infrastructure.",
   "location": "§Conclusion, p. 4"
  }
 },
 "researchQuestions": [
  "How can VR and AR (1) bring a distant part of the physical world to someone, and (2) bring someone to a distant part of the physical world?",
  "How can VR-enabled telepresence support the ability to freely roam the environment, a feeling that the environment belongs to telepresent users as much as to those physically present, and the ability to freely express oneself there?"
 ],
 "concepts": [
  {
   "term": "Telepresence",
   "definition": "As distinct from presence in a virtual space:",
   "quote": "Telepresence is the feeling of being in a physical space other than one's own [15].",
   "location": "§VR-Enabled Telepresence, p. 2"
  },
  {
   "term": "Telepresence robot",
   "definition": "The standard hardware this work builds on:",
   "quote": "Telepresence robots are mobile robots that have a screen at the top for a talking-heads videochat interface and wheels at the bottom.",
   "location": "§VR-Enabled Telepresence, p. 2"
  },
  {
   "term": "VR as bridge",
   "definition": "Using VR and AR to connect people with distant physical places and people, rather than only meeting in a virtual place.",
   "quote": "we have a more expansive view of VR as a bridge between people, environments, and experiences",
   "location": "Abstract, p. 1"
  },
  {
   "term": "VROOM (Virtual Robot Overlay for Online Meetings)",
   "definition": "A bi-directional, asymmetric VR-AR system. The remote user's avatar is overlaid on the robot for a local user wearing a HoloLens, and seen in first person by the remote user in VR.",
   "quote": "we designed VROOM (Virtual Robot Overlay for Online Meetings) [10] to provide the remote user with an avatar in the remote space",
   "location": "§Concept 2: VROOM, p. 3"
  }
 ],
 "method": {
  "design": "Workshop paper summarising two design explorations (see Prototype). (1) Remote participants used the VR robot interface to accompany a local participant searching for geocaches. (2) A mixed-methods study in which pairs played a clue-finding and word-guessing game, once with VROOM and once with standard robotic telepresence.",
  "prototype": "Two systems built on a Beam telepresence robot (a video-chat screen on wheels that a remote person drives). First, a 360° camera on top of the robot streams live video to a mobile VR headset. The remote user drives the robot while looking around its surroundings naturally, instead of turning the robot to look. Second, VROOM (Virtual Robot Overlay for Online Meetings) adds a photorealistic avatar of the remote user, which the local person sees superimposed on the robot through a HoloLens AR headset. The avatar's head follows the remote user's head, its arms follow their VR motion controllers so they can wave and point, its mouth moves when they speak, and it walks when the robot drives. The remote user sees the avatar's body in first person in VR. VROOM was compared with standard robotic telepresence.",
  "prototypeFigure": 1,
  "setting": "Study 1 outdoors in a park, with the remote participant in an office. Study 2 with one participant local in the activity space and the other remote in a separate room.",
  "sample": "Pairs of participants (numbers not reported in this paper).",
  "analysis": "Preliminary findings reported qualitatively."
 },
 "findings": [
  {
   "headline": "Looking around freely.",
   "summary": "Remote users driving a telepresence robot through a park with a 360° VR view enjoyed being immersed and being able to look around naturally, without turning the robot.",
   "quote": "Some participants were so invested in the immersive view of the outdoor environment that they temporarily forgot that they were in an office using a VR system.",
   "location": "§Concept 1: VR Telepresence Robot Interface, p. 2",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/vr-enabled-telepresence-as-a-bridge-for-people-environments-and-experiences.html#at-sconcept-1-vr-telepresence-robot-interface-p-2",
   "cite": "Brennan Jones, Yaying Zhang, Priscilla N. Y. Wong, Sean Rintel, and Yasamin Heshmat. 2020. VR-Enabled Telepresence as a Bridge for People, Environments, and Experiences. CHI 2020. (§Concept 1: VR Telepresence Robot Interface, p. 2)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Harder to drive and to point.",
   "summary": "Steering got harder, because drivers lost track of which way the robot faced. Partners on site, who saw the driver only on the robot's screen, often could not tell what they were pointing at.",
   "quote": "it was easy for the remote user to lose their orientation in the VR view, and thus their orientation with respect to the robot",
   "location": "§Concept 1: VR Telepresence Robot Interface, p. 3",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/vr-enabled-telepresence-as-a-bridge-for-people-environments-and-experiences.html#at-sconcept-1-vr-telepresence-robot-interface-p-3",
   "cite": "Brennan Jones, Yaying Zhang, Priscilla N. Y. Wong, Sean Rintel, and Yasamin Heshmat. 2020. VR-Enabled Telepresence as a Bridge for People, Environments, and Experiences. CHI 2020. (§Concept 1: VR Telepresence Robot Interface, p. 3)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "An avatar made gestures readable.",
   "summary": "VROOM is asymmetric by design. Local users see the remote user's avatar in third person through an AR headset, while remote users see its body in first person in VR. Preliminary findings suggest local users read their partner's gestures and gaze well through it, and some remote users felt it embodied them because their partners saw the same avatar in the same spot.",
   "quote": "made them feel more like the avatar was an embodiment of themself in the local space",
   "location": "Concept 2: VROOM, p. 4",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/vr-enabled-telepresence-as-a-bridge-for-people-environments-and-experiences.html#at-concept-2-vroom-p-4",
   "cite": "Brennan Jones, Yaying Zhang, Priscilla N. Y. Wong, Sean Rintel, and Yasamin Heshmat. 2020. VR-Enabled Telepresence as a Bridge for People, Environments, and Experiences. CHI 2020. (Concept 2: VROOM, p. 4)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Not everyone saw themselves.",
   "summary": "Some remote users did not identify with their avatar once they saw how it looked to their partner. This was perhaps because the research team built the photorealistic avatars from photos, which may have triggered an uncanny valley reaction.",
   "quote": "after seeing what their avatar looked like to the local participant, some remote participants reported that they did not identify with their avatar",
   "location": "Concept 2: VROOM, p. 4",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/vr-enabled-telepresence-as-a-bridge-for-people-environments-and-experiences.html#at-concept-2-vroom-p-4-2",
   "cite": "Brennan Jones, Yaying Zhang, Priscilla N. Y. Wong, Sean Rintel, and Yasamin Heshmat. 2020. VR-Enabled Telepresence as a Bridge for People, Environments, and Experiences. CHI 2020. (Concept 2: VROOM, p. 4)"
  }
 ],
 "questions": [
  {
   "question": "Can VR make a telepresence robot feel more like being there?",
   "answer": "Partly. A 360° VR view lets remote users look around without turning the robot. Joining a partner geocaching in a park, some were so immersed they briefly forgot they were in an office. But driving became harder, and local partners struggled to follow their pointing.",
   "source": "Brennan Jones, Yaying Zhang, Priscilla N. Y. Wong, Sean Rintel, and Yasamin Heshmat. 2020. VR-Enabled Telepresence as a Bridge for People, Environments, and Experiences. CHI 2020.",
   "basedOn": [
    {
     "location": "§Concept 1: VR Telepresence Robot Interface, p. 2",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/vr-enabled-telepresence-as-a-bridge-for-people-environments-and-experiences.html#at-sconcept-1-vr-telepresence-robot-interface-p-2"
    },
    {
     "location": "§Concept 1: VR Telepresence Robot Interface, p. 3",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/vr-enabled-telepresence-as-a-bridge-for-people-environments-and-experiences.html#at-sconcept-1-vr-telepresence-robot-interface-p-3"
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "question": "Does putting an avatar on a telepresence robot help people communicate?",
   "answer": "Preliminary findings suggest so. Local partners wore augmented reality headsets that overlaid the remote person's avatar on the robot, with head and arms moving as the remote person did. They understood that person's gestures and gaze well, and many identified the avatar as their partner.",
   "source": "Brennan Jones, Yaying Zhang, Priscilla N. Y. Wong, Sean Rintel, and Yasamin Heshmat. 2020. VR-Enabled Telepresence as a Bridge for People, Environments, and Experiences. CHI 2020.",
   "basedOn": [
    {
     "location": "Concept 2: VROOM, p. 4",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/vr-enabled-telepresence-as-a-bridge-for-people-environments-and-experiences.html#at-concept-2-vroom-p-4"
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "question": "Do people identify with photorealistic avatars of themselves?",
   "answer": "Not always. Some remote users did not identify with an avatar the researchers had built from their photo, once they saw how it looked to their partner. Not having made it themselves, and an uncanny valley reaction to near-realism, may explain why.",
   "source": "Brennan Jones, Yaying Zhang, Priscilla N. Y. Wong, Sean Rintel, and Yasamin Heshmat. 2020. VR-Enabled Telepresence as a Bridge for People, Environments, and Experiences. CHI 2020.",
   "basedOn": [
    {
     "location": "Concept 2: VROOM, p. 4",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/vr-enabled-telepresence-as-a-bridge-for-people-environments-and-experiences.html#at-concept-2-vroom-p-4-2"
    }
   ]
  }
 ],
 "cites": [
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/vroom-virtual-robot-overlay-for-online-meetings.html",
   "title": "VROOM: Virtual Robot Overlay for Online Meetings",
   "location": "p. 3"
  }
 ],
 "quantitative": [],
 "implications": [
  {
   "summary": "Letting users create their own avatars, or using cartoon-style avatars, may help them identify with their avatars.",
   "quote": "Allowing users to make their own avatars, or even using cartoon-style avatars (e.g., Xbox avatars), may enable users to identify with their avatars more closely.",
   "location": "Concept 2: VROOM, p. 4"
  },
  {
   "summary": "Pure virtual spaces risk excluding remote people from really being part of teams and events, and privileging the local.",
   "quote": "If a colleague or friend is never really 'here' in local physical space, but only 'there' in virtual space, we may still be privileging the local.",
   "location": "§Conclusion, p. 4"
  }
 ],
 "limitations": [
  {
   "summary": "The underlying technologies are immature, and the VROOM findings are preliminary.",
   "quote": "While the underlying technologies still need much development",
   "location": "Abstract, p. 1"
  },
  {
   "summary": "For technical reasons the research team made each remote user's avatar rather than letting participants create and customise their own."
  }
 ],
 "figures": [
  {
   "src": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/figures/vr-enabled-telepresence-as-a-bridge-for-people-environments-and-experiences/fig-4.webp",
   "caption": "Figure 4: VROOM: the remote user gesturing at a white board. a. Remote (VR) user's action. b. Remote (VR) user's view. c. Local (AR) user's view.",
   "alt": "Three photos: a remote user in a VR headset raises an arm, in VR he sees his avatar's arm pointing at a whiteboard, and the local AR user sees the avatar pointing at the real whiteboard.",
   "location": "Figure 4, p. 3",
   "credit": "Figure 4 from Brennan Jones, Yaying Zhang, Priscilla N. Y. Wong, Sean Rintel, and Yasamin Heshmat. 2020. VR-Enabled Telepresence as a Bridge for People, Environments, and Experiences. CHI 2020."
  },
  {
   "src": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/figures/vr-enabled-telepresence-as-a-bridge-for-people-environments-and-experiences/fig-1.webp",
   "caption": "Figure 1: Beam telepresence robot with 360° camera (circled) attached. This camera streams to a remote user who can view the robot's surroundings in VR.",
   "alt": "A Beam telepresence robot outdoors, with a remote person's face on its screen and a 360 degree camera, circled in red, mounted on top.",
   "location": "Figure 1, p. 2",
   "credit": "Figure 1 from Brennan Jones, Yaying Zhang, Priscilla N. Y. Wong, Sean Rintel, and Yasamin Heshmat. 2020. VR-Enabled Telepresence as a Bridge for People, Environments, and Experiences. CHI 2020."
  }
 ],
 "pageNumbersReferTo": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/vr-enabled-telepresence-as-a-bridge-for-people-environments-and-experiences.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",
   "heading": "The studies",
   "summary": "Workshop paper summarising two design explorations with a Beam telepresence robot, a video chat screen on wheels that a remote person drives. Both involved pairs of participants, but the paper does not report how many.",
   "steps": [
    {
     "label": "Park exploration",
     "detail": "A remote participant in an office used a virtual reality view from the robot to join a local partner searching a park for geocaches."
    },
    {
     "label": "Game study",
     "detail": "Pairs played a clue-finding and word-guessing game, once with VROOM and once with standard robotic telepresence."
    },
    {
     "label": "Early analysis",
     "detail": "Preliminary findings from both studies are reported qualitatively."
    }
   ]
  },
  "tool": {
   "heading": "The systems",
   "steps": [
    {
     "title": "Look around freely",
     "text": "A 360° camera on the robot streams live video to a mobile virtual reality headset, so the remote user looks around by turning their head while driving.",
     "part": true
    },
    {
     "title": "Overlay an avatar",
     "text": "VROOM shows the local person a photorealistic avatar of the remote user over the robot, through a HoloLens augmented reality headset.",
     "part": true
    },
    {
     "title": "Mirror movements",
     "text": "The avatar's head follows the remote user's head, its arms follow hand controllers, its mouth moves with speech, and it walks when the robot drives.",
     "part": true
    },
    {
     "title": "See yourself",
     "text": "In virtual reality, the remote user sees the avatar's body in first person."
    }
   ],
   "note": "The research team built each remote user's avatar from photos, for technical reasons."
  },
  "findings": {
   "heading": "What the studies found",
   "legend": null,
   "stages": [
    {
     "title": "Virtual reality view from the robot",
     "sub": "park exploration",
     "items": [
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "Remote users enjoyed looking around the park naturally through the virtual reality view.",
       "detail": "Some remote participants were so immersed that they briefly forgot they were in an office using a virtual reality system.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[0]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "With the virtual reality view, remote users found the robot harder to steer.",
       "detail": "Drivers lost track of which way the robot faced. Local partners, seeing the driver only on the robot's screen, often could not tell what the driver was pointing at.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[1]"
       ]
      }
     ]
    },
    {
     "title": "VROOM avatar",
     "sub": "preliminary findings from the game study",
     "items": [
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "Early findings suggest local users read remote partners' gestures and gaze well through VROOM.",
       "detail": "Some remote users felt the avatar embodied them, because partners saw the same avatar in the same spot.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[2]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "Some remote users reported not identifying with the avatar once they saw how it looked.",
       "detail": "Self-reported. The paper suggests photorealistic avatars made by the research team may have seemed uncanny, and that self-made or cartoon avatars might help.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[3]",
        "limitations[1]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "The paper notes that the technologies are immature and the VROOM findings preliminary.",
       "detail": "The paper does not report how many pairs took part in either study.",
       "evidence": [
        "limitations[0]",
        "method"
       ]
      }
     ]
    }
   ]
  },
  "keyTerm": "VR as bridge",
  "takeaway": "The idea of 'VR as bridge' suggests that virtual and augmented reality can bring remote people into real places, and real places to them. A robot-mounted avatar may clarify gaze and gestures if people identify with it."
 }
}