Direction consistent approach for telepresence system with miniature humanoid robot

In our previous work, we developed a miniature humanoid robot called MH-2. It is able to reproduce the movements of an operator, because it has dual 7-DOF arms that are the same as those of a human. In addition, the operator can feel the presence in the remote site, because he/she is able to look anywhere in the remote site through a stereo camera attached to the head of the robot. Therefore, MH-2 can communicate naturally with a remote person. Tactile sense may enhance presence and natural communication by carrying out hugs and handshakes. However, it is difficult to reproduce a sense of touch for a small robot like MH-2. To tackle the problem, we are aiming to utilize the effect of the Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI). On the other hand, it is difficult to make a small sized humanoid robot with the same kinematic parameters as those of the operator. MH-2 has similar proportions as a human, but its kinematic parameters are still different from those of the operator. As a result, the operator feels a sense of discomfort that is inappropriate for RHI. This paper describes a telepresence system that aims to provide a tactile sense by RHI. In addition, a direction consistent approach is proposed to provide the operator with a natural feeling to recognize his own hand in spite of different kinematic parameters.