From Lab to a Long-Term Care Facility: Lessons Learned from Field Deployment of Augmented Reality Telepresence System as an Interactive Communication Technology

With new advancements in head-mounted display-based augmented reality (HMD-AR), networking capabilities, and software to support the embodiment of a user in a remote AR environment, AR telepresence can finally take its place as a viable Interactive Communication Technology (ICT). Recent studies and commercialization efforts provide evidence for HMD-AR’s capabilities to host face-to-face interactions but with some limitations, such as the gap in knowledge about the requirements and considerations for the successful deployment of an AR telepresence system outside the lab. In this paper, we detail the development of our system and its iterative deployment over eight sessions in a long-term care facility with two older adults as participants. We present the lessons learned that can provide general guidelines for future deployment efforts of AR telepresence in the community.