Development of a Communication Robot for Forwarding a User's Presence to a Partner During Video Communication

In recent years, the need for remote communication that can provide a greater sense of presence to the communicating parties has been felt. In this study, we propose a framework for forwarding a user’s presence via a robot to a partner during video communication. We developed a prototype of a oneself robot, which is a robot personalized to resemble a user and can be easily assembled by the communication partner. We conducted a public demonstration and an evaluation experiment; the results of which demonstrate the effectiveness of the robot. The participants enjoyed remote communication by using the prototype of oneself robot.