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Chronic low back pain (CLBP) presents a significant challenge in healthcare, re-quiring effective tools for rehabilitation and assessment. This study explores the use of virtual reality (VR) for assessment of physical function in patients with CLBP, and investigates how movements and tasks can be designed for assessment purposes. The focus is on physiotherapists' perceptions of using VR regarding task design, feasibility, and user experience. We conducted three design workshops with physiotherapists and HCI researchers, and designed three VR applications that we evaluated with six physiotherapy students. The study provides valuable insights into participants' perceptions and highlights promising and challenging aspects of using VR in physiotherapy assessment. We found the approach to be useful and have potential. However, additional focus is needed on task design, measures of physical function, and designing for body size diversity. This study lays the groundwork for designing physiotherapeutic assessment of patients with CLBP.

Robotic telepresence systems enable humans to be present physically and socially in a distant environment. Robotic telepresence technology is the latest in the line of communication technology development. The unique feature of such technology is that its users can act in a distant environment and interact with other people through these systems. The robot is the user’s physical avatar through which they act. This thesis aims to understand how people connect to the world through robotic telepresence. The aim includes addressing how humans operate the robotic telepresence system, how the robotic telepresence supports performing actions in a distant location and supports social interaction, and how a human experience being in a robotic body.

The thesis is based on five studies, reported in five papers, that explore different aspects of robotic telepresence. The theoretical foundations consist of activity theory and phenomenology, two traditions that are arguably compatible and complementary. The concept of remote embodiment is proposed to describe the relationship between the human and robotic telepresence systems. Remote embodiment is a phenomenon, design concept, and feature that enables robotic telepresence to be used in a wide variety of activities. Furthermore, I use the concept of remote embodiment to outline possible futures of robotic telepresence.

Robotic telepresence (RT)-technologies enable users' to be physically and socially present in a remote environment. These systems consist of a robot with a base with wheels, cameras, speakers, microphones, and a monitor, remotely controlled via a computer. It is common for robotic telepresence systems to support multiple input devices, including keyboard, mouse, and game controller. However, to the authors' knowledge, there are no studies that have investigated the differences between the devices. This study investigates how four different input devices, mouse, game controller, and keyboard, affect performance and experience. The study consists of a controlled experiment where participants navigated a track with the four different input devices. Outlined in this article is a mixed-method study aimed to uncover the complexity of input devices, how various interaction design factors affect the performance, and the users' experience of different input devices. The study found the keyboard and game controller to be the overall best devices. Furthermore, this article highlights a need to understand how abilities received from previous experiences transfer to the usage of RT-technology.

This paper reports a study of pilots of a robotic telepresence system, exploring the relationship between the pilots' experience of physical presence, overall user experience, and task parameters. The pilots (N=12) performed a set of tasks characterized by different Task Focus (Process vs. Outcome) and Navigation Difficulty (Low vs. High); their experience was assessed by using a set of subjective rating scales. It was found that the experience of being physically present in a remote location positively correlated with self-reported gaming skills, objective indicators of navigation efficiency, as well as feelings of being safe and relaxed. No significant effects of task focus and navigation difficulty were found.

Most robotic telepresence systems are severely limited in their ability to physically interact with surrounding objects. The solution we propose, "double remote control", or DRC, is to make it possible for the user controlling the telepresence robot ("the pilot"), to also remotely control objects in the robot's physical environment. This paper reports a user experience study, comparing a Wizard of Oz-style prototype of a DRC-enabled environment with a control condition, in which DRC was not enabled. The participants, who acted as either remote pilots (NP=16) or local people in the robot's proximity (NLP=16), were asked to carry out joint activities in each of these conditions. It was found that DRC had a generally positive effect on how participants, and especially pilots, performed their tasks, but the impact of DRC on the social context of interaction was mixed.

Mobile Remote Presence (MRP) technologies make it possible for the user to be mobile in a remote environment, which opens up new possibilities for interaction. However, this new functionality comes at a cost. The need for MRP system users to pay attention to both telecommunication and device navigation increases their cognitive load. Assessing the cognitive load of MRP system users is a timely research issue, which is addressed in this paper both conceptually and empirically. We argue that Secondary Task (ST) techniques have certain advantages over existing Subjective Rating Scales (SRS) instruments, and report a study, in which a particular ST technique, a visual monitoring task, was employed to assess MRP pilot’s cognitive load. The empirical evidence from the study indicates that the method provides additional valuable insights into MRP pilots’ user experience.

Robotic telepresence technologies are becoming ever more usable and affordable, as well as increasingly available as consumer products. In the coming years, a significant number of people are likely to encounter the technology for the first time, and many, if not most, of them are going to be “non-technical” users, that is, people who do not have special technical knowledge and skills of IT-professionals. Therefore, understanding how nontechnical users are getting familiar with robotic telepresence technology, how they perceive the technology, learn to control it, and relate it to their everyday work practices, is a topical research issue. This paper reports an empirical study, in which eight non-technical users, office workers who were not IT-professionals, were introduced to robotic telepresence and provided with a practical experience of acting as pilots of a remotely controlled robot. In follow up interviews the participants were asked to reflect on potential uses of the technology in their professional activities. The participants could successfully acquire basic navigation skills and reached a high level of spatial presence, but experienced problems with developing a "new body image”. When reflecting on the potential of the technology for supporting their work, the participants envisioned a number of benefits associated with remote physical mobility. The impact of the technology on the quality of workrelated social interactions was expected to be generally positive but somewhat limited.

This poster presents the development of an instrument, semantic differential scale, intended for evaluating the User Experience (UX) of a Mobile Remote Presence (MRP) technology. By combining a semantic scale with participants’ reflection on differences between individual assessments, we argue that insight can be made regarding how people assess their experience, as such, social and co-experience may be measured. 

A telepresence robot is a mobile telecommunication device, remotely controlled by its "pilot", which supports an embodied presence of the pilot in a different location (the "local setting"). A common problem with telepresence robots is their limited capability of interacting with the physical environment. A potential solution, explored in the present study, is supporting "double remote control" interaction, that is, making it possible for the pilot, in addition to remotely controlling the robot, to also remotely control objects in the local setting. In the study we enacted meaningful scenarios of employing telepresence robots with and without double remote control capabilities. The evidence collected in the study allows us to tentatively assess the effects of double remote control interaction on user experience and social context. Issues for future research are discussed.

The general problem addressed in this paper is supporting a more efficient communication between remote users, who control telepresence robots, and people in the local setting. The design of most telepresence robots does not allow them to perform gestures. Given the key role of pointing in human communication, exploring design solutions for providing telepresence robots with deictic gesturing capabilities is, arguably, a timely research issue for Human-Robot Interaction. To address this issue, we conducted an empirical study, in which a set of low fidelity prototypes, illustrating various designs of a robot's gesture arm, were assessed by the participants (N=18). The study employed a mixed-method approach, a combination of a controlled experiment, elicitation study, and design provocation. The evidence collected in the study reveals participants' assessment of the designs, used in the study, and provides insights into parti.cipants' attitudes and expectations regarding gestural communication with telepresence robots in general.