Mediating dual ecologies

In this paper we investigated systems for supporting remote collaboration using mobile robots as communication media. It is argued that the use of a remote-controlled robot as a device to support communication involves two distinct ecologies: an ecology at the remote (instructor's) site and an ecology at the operator's (robot) site. In designing a robot as a viable communication medium, it is essential to consider how these ecologies can be mediated and supported. In this paper, we propose design guidelines to overcome the problems inherent in dual ecologies, and describe the development of a robot named GestureMan-3 based on these guidelines. Our experiments with GestureMan-3 showed that the system supports sequential aspects of the organization of communication.