Interoception as operator-centered proxy for embodiment of tele-robotic systems: theoretical-practical remarks

Tele-robotics focuses on design, implementation, and testing of robotic system that, with various degree of autonomy, are controlled by a remote human operator. The effectiveness of interactions between human operator and remotely controlled robot strongly depends on such interaction being as natural and intuitive as possible, though technological limitations and human factors may hamper that experience. Embodiment of the remotely controlled robotic system may counter such detrimental effects. Yet, some persons are more prone to embodiment than others and personal factors seem to modulate embodiment. Interoceptive skills may represent a latent factor explaining different operational capacities of actual interactions with tele-robotic systems. We posit that improving our understanding of neurofunctional correlates of interoceptive skills might help to find valuable markers for profiling of tele-robotics operators in terms of their proneness towards embodiment, or for personalizing training intervention to improve operators' efficiency in interacting with such systems. This work aims at stimulating the debate on implications of embodiment– as well as of its connection with interoceptive skills – for efficiency, transparency, and usability of tele-robotic systems, also introducing an experimental assessment protocol devised to detect objective markers of individual interoceptive skills via non-invasive EEG recordings and source localization. (Abstract)