Evaluation of an Avatar Robot with a Physically Immersive Telepresence

Ageing societies and an increase in non-communicable diseases across the world are causing a rise in the number of people restricted to stay at home. There are various technologies to connect people remotely. Telepresence systems as an example aim to enrich the means of communication and allows more intimate contact. A missing aspect in telepresence research is the effect of physical engagement on presence and immersion. In this paper, we develop a telepresence system using a cycling wheelchair. We did our experiment with different participants to complete a prescribed track with varying gear ratios. Our findings show that increasing the physical engagement through interactive parameters such as the gear-ratio, feeling of resistance, or simply through engagement over time improve the user’s experience of presence and immersion.