Telepresence robots from the perspective of psychology and educational sciences
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-09-2022-0106 |
| Published date | 11 January 2023 |
| Date | 11 January 2023 |
| Pages | 48-69 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library & information services |
| Author | Sirje Virkus,Janika Leoste,Kristel Marmor,Tiina Kasuk,Aleksei Talisainen |
Telepresence robots from the
perspective of psychology and
educational sciences
Sirje Virkus
School of Digital Technologies, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia
Janika Leoste
School of Educational Sciences, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia and
IT College, TalTech, Tallinn, Estonia
Kristel Marmor
IT College, TalTech, Tallinn, Estonia
Tiina Kasuk
Centre for Teaching Excellence, TalTech, Tallinn, Estonia, and
Aleksei Talisainen
IT College, TalTech, Tallinn, Estonia
Abstract
Purpose –Telepresence robots(TPRs) are an emerging field of application and research that have received
attention from various disciplines,including computer science, telehealth and education. The purposeof this
study is to conduct a bibliometricanalysis of publications on TPR in the Web of Sciencedatabase from 1980
to 2022 to gain a betterunderstanding of the state of research on TPRs and explorethe role of pedagogical and
psychologicalaspects in this research.
Design/methodology/approach –The analysis of research publications on TPRs was made on the
basis of paperspublished in the Web of Science database from 1980 to 2022. Thefollowing research questions
were proposed:What are the main tendencies in publicationyears, document types, countries of origin, source
titles, publication authors, affiliationsof authors and the most cited articles related to TPRs? What are the
main topics discussed in the publications from the perspective of psychology? What are the main topics
discussedin the publications from the perspective of educational sciences?
Findings –The results indicate that it is in the computerscience where most of the existing research has
been conducted, whereas the interestin the psychology and educational science has been relatively low. The
greatest regional contributor has been the USA, whereas the effort in the European Union lags behind.
Research publications in psychology in the Web of Science database related to TPRs can be grouped into
three broad thematiccategories: features of TPRs, degree of social presence compared to physical presenceor
other mediated technologiesand opportunities for using TPRs. The resultssuggest that from the perspective
of psychology, TPRs are one of the approaches that could enable greater social presence in remote
communication. Most of the analysed papersin educational sciences investigated the opportunities of using
TPRs in various educational fields.However, while the findings of the studies indicated significant potential
of TPRs for education,their acceptance for wider use is still challenged.
Research limitations/implications –The limitationsof this research are that this study only analysed
research papers in the Web of Science database and therefore only covers a limited number of scientific
papers published in the field of psychologyand educational sciences on TPRs. In addition,only publications
with the term “telepresencerobots”in the topic area of the Web of Science database were analysed.Therefore,
several relevantstudies are not discussed in this paper that are not reflected in the Web of Science databaseor
were relatedto other keywords.
ILS
124,1/2
48
Received12 September 2022
Revised16 November 2022
Accepted16 December 2022
Informationand Learning
Sciences
Vol.124 No. 1/2, 2023
pp. 48-69
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2398-5348
DOI 10.1108/ILS-09-2022-0106
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2398-5348.htm
Originality/value –The field of TPRs has not been explored using a bibliographic analysis of
publicationsin the Web of Science database from the perspective of psychology and educationalsciences. The
findings of this paper will help researchers and academic staff better understand the state of research on
TPRs and the pedagogicaland psychological aspects addressed in this research.
Keywords Telepresence robots, Bibliometric analysis, Psychology, Educational sciences,
Emerging technologies, Social presence
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
According to El-Gayar et al. (2005, p. 730) telepresence “is defined as the feeling of being
fully present at a remote location from one’s own physical location. Telepresence creates a
virtual or simulated environment of the real experience”for the robot operator. A
telepresence robots (TPR)is a remote-controlled movable wheeled device which is equipped
with cameras, speakers, microphones, a screen, sensor-assisted motion control and other
interactive features, which are especially designed for communicating and collaborating
remotely (Kristofferssonet al.,2013;Tuli et al., 2021;Vaughn et al.,2015). A remoteuser can
log into the robot to control it via computers, tablets or smartphoneswhile experiencing the
on-site surroundings on the screen. At the same time, the users’face is projected directly
onto the robot’s screen, allowing on-site persons’face-to-face interaction with the user,
creating a remotetelepresence (Leoste et al., 2022).
The mobile robotic telepresence phenomenon was first studied by Paulos and Canny’s
(1998) research on the personal roving presence system. Their research was primarily
motivated to understand the social and psychologicalaspects of extended human-to-human
interaction. Since then, there has been a growing interest in the use of TPRs in a variety of
fields, such as medicine (Lu and Hsu, 2015;Marescaux et al.,2002;O’Neill et al.,2001;
Vaughn et al.,2015), elderly care (Cesta et al., 2016;Koceskaand Koceski, 2022;Moyle et al.,
2019;Tsai et al.,2007), office work (Beno, 2018;Lee and Takayama, 2011;Muratbekova-
Touron and Leon, 2021;Tsui et al., 2011), museums (Chang, 2019;Claudio et al.,2017),
industry (Hernandez et al.,2021;James et al.,2019;Moniz and Krings, 2016) and education
(Conti et al.,2017;Gallon et al.,2019;Kwon et al., 2010;Tanaka et al.,2014). In addition,
experimental uses such as geocaching and collaborative shopping show further exciting
potential (Björnfot,2022,p.3).
The popularity of TPRs is increasing because of their cost effectiveness, savings on time and
ability to enable enhanced communication and social presence (Davey, 2021). The use of TPRs
eliminates distance as a barrier allowing people to participate in events remotely by using a TPR
to represent them in a physical location in cases where they have a chronic illness, poor medical
conditions, hospitalization or disability or some other reason where face-to-face communication is
impossible or difficult. Thus, telepresence offers new solutions for remote communication and
collaboration and increases the value in the delivery of various services (e.g. in health care,
education, culture) (Leoste et al., 2022;Vaughn et al.,2015;Zhang, 2021). However, TPRs still
remain as novelty for early adopters (Reis et al.,2019).
Björnfot (2022, p. 3) notes that robotic telepresence “is the first communication
technology where the user controls an avatar in the physical world for social interaction.
While there are various remotely controlled devices, such as flying planes and drones,
underwater rovers, and remotely controlled cars, these do not afford social interaction. A
robotic telepresencerobot is both a ‘drone’and a representation of the user.”
However, the social dimension and level of interaction as well as several psychological
and pedagogical aspects of interactions with TPRs are not clear and have been little
Telepresence
robots
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