Connecting people through 'telepresence'

Technology has transformed the way we communicate. From the early telegrams through to email, social media and smart phones, it has been an area of life that has been constantly evolving. Now, a Catz Fellow is pioneering a new method of interaction in the form of semi-autonomous telepresence robots. Shimon Whiteson, Associate Professor, Fellow and Tutor in Computer Science is the scientific coordinator for the TERESA project which has developed'socially intelligent' telepresence robots, which allow people to interact with others without being there physically. In telepresence systems, a human controller remotely interacts with people by guiding a remotely located robot, allowing the controller to be more physically present than with standard teleconferencing.