Background: Telepresence robots provide real-time audio, video, and mobility features, allowing faculty and students to engage in learning experiences without being physically present. Problem: With multiple students and faculty members needing to quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a flexible learning environment was essential. Approach: The telepresence robots were used as an innovative approach for both faculty and students to engage in learning experiences offered in a variety of settings. Outcome: Feedback was obtained from faculty and students about the use of and satisfaction with telepresence robots. The robots were easy to use and posed only a few technological challenges, which were easily overcome. Conclusions: Telepresence robots were effective tools in overcoming teaching and learning barriers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The telepresence robots have many applications, including use in clinical and community settings.

This research aims to find distinct and crucial factors needed in order to design a better robot through exploring the meaning of movement. The researcher conducted six-weeks of iterative work to collect data via an ethnographic method. The researcher examined the interactions between a telepresence robot and human beings in an authentic environment through the collected data and analyzed it based on proxemics theory. The research observed that the robot was given social space when it approached the participants with pauses in between movements. Furthermore, the research introduces proxemics pivot and its notion. Proxemics pivot refers to the part of the robot that people perceive as a standard point when they adjust the proximity between the robot and themselves. The proxemics pivot was considered “a face” and was attributed social properties; the other parts of the robot did not receive the same consideration.

Les robots de téléprésence sont proposés à des étudiants dont la maladie, l’hospitalisation ou la situation de handicap, empêche la présence physique en classe. La mise en place de cette technologie, s’inscrit dans une logique d’inclusion scolaire, visant une forme de présence de l’étudiant, dans un établissement scolaire ou universitaire dit « ordinaire ». Cependant, aucune étude préalable n’a été réalisée pour rendre compte des dimensions inclusives de cette technologie dans un contexte éducatif. La présence d’un étudiant, médiatisée par un dispositif de téléprésence, démultiplie les espaces d’interactions qui se trouvent situés dans des environnements à la fois physiques et numériques. En effet, l’étudiant utilisateur du robot de téléprésence, dispose de possibilités d’actions dans un environnement distant, qu’il produit à travers un environnement numérique. Cette situation inédite révèle des espaces potentiels de perception et d’action sur le monde et transforme la modalité de présence de l’utilisateur. L’objectif de cette recherche est de proposer une conceptualisation des enjeux de l’utilisation de ce dispositif, dans une visée d’inclusion scolaire. Il s’agit d’une théorisation qui est ancrée dans l’expérience vécue par des étudiants qui utilisent un robot de téléprésence pour des raisons de santé, afin de participer à leurs enseignements. La compréhension de ces expériences subjectives des utilisateurs, assure l’ancrage empirique de notre conceptualisation, dont les résultats mettent en avant les concepts centraux de perception et d’action, qui s’inscrivent dans le concept de présence. Ainsi, dans un contexte d’enseignement configuré en présentiel et médiatisé par un robot de téléprésence, l’inclusion scolaire de l’étudiant utilisateur, se rapporte à une renégociation perceptive réciproque, de la coprésence de l’utilisateur et de l’environnement distant. / Telepresence robots are offered to students whose illness, hospitalization or disability, prevents physical presence in the classroom. The implementation of this technology, is part of a logic of inclusive education, aimed at a form of presence of the student, in a school or university called "ordinary". However, no prior study has been done to account for the inclusive dimensions of this technology in an educational context. The presence of a student, mediated by a device of telepresence, multiplies the spaces of interactions which are located in environments both physical and digital. Indeed, the student user of the telepresence robot has the possibility of actions in a remote environment, which he produces through a digital environment. This unprecedented situation reveals potential spaces of perception and action on the world and transforms the modality of presence of the user. The objective of this research is to propose a conceptualization of the stakes of the use of this device, in a goal of inclusive education. It is a theorization that is rooted in the experience of students using a telepresence robot for health reasons, to participate in their teachings. The understanding of these subjective experiences of the users, ensures the empirical anchoring of our conceptualization, whose results put forward the central concepts of perception and action, which are part of the concept of presence. Thus, in a context of teaching configured face-to-face and mediated by a telepresence robot, the student's inclusion in the classroom, refers to a reciprocal perceptual renegotiation, the co-presence of the user and the remote environment.

Background According to recent research, telepresence robots are increasingly used as self-support devices to aid in social interaction in remote areas. Increased participation in leisure activities is one of the most important outcomes of the intervention. However, there is still a scarcity of prior literature on studies with special-needs children. Objective This scoping review aims to explore the participation of children with functional limitations through telepresence robots while identifying barriers and facilitators in their application. Methods A comprehensive literature search was conducted using ten databases in English and Japanese. Prior studies were screened and selected based on a systematic procedure. The literature was collected based on the following criteria and mapped according to the components of the ICF. Results Environmental and human factors are all contributing to barriers or facilitating factors. Also, six themes emerged for telepresence robot interventions: user conditions, decision-maker approval, virtual inclusion, social attitudes, rapport, and children's preferences. Conclusion Since the main daily activities for children occur in the school setting, and it is necessary to build technology and support in line with children's needs. / 背景 近年、遠隔地における社会的交流を支援するための自立支援装置として、テレプレゼンスロボットの利用が進んでいる。また余暇活動への参加率の向上は、子供達への介入の最も重要な成果の一つである。しかし、特別な支援を必要とする児童を対象とした研究の先行文献はまだ少ない。 目的 本稿のスクーピングレビューでは、テレプレゼンスロボットを活用する機能的制限のある子どもの参加について調査し、その適用における障壁と促進要因を明らかにすることを目的とする。 方法 日本語と英語のデータベースを用いて包括的な文献検索を行った。先行研究をスクリーニングし、体系的な手順に基づいて選択した。文献は基準に沿って収集し、ICFの構成要素に従いマッピングした。 結果 環境的・人的要因のすべてが障壁や促進要因となっている。また、テレプレゼンスロボットによる介入では、ユーザーの条件、意思決定者の承認、バーチャルインクルージョン、社会的態度、ラポール、子どもの嗜好の6つのテーマが浮かび上がった。 結論 子どもの主な日常生活は学校生活の中で行われるため、子どものニーズに沿った技術や支援を構築することが必要である。