Introduction to Presence

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Introduction to Presence

• Prof. A. Ferworn

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Topics

• Course Management Form
• Assignments
• Buzz words
• Telepresence
• Presence
• Research Questions
• The Gestalt of Presence
• Measuring Presence

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What is Telepresence?

• Term coined by Marvin Minsky in 1980 but
  attributed to the futurist Patrick Gunkel
• He meant Manipulation of objects in the real
  world through remote access technology

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Telepresence
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Example MAX Teleoperated dog on the Web (1998-99)
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MAX
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Presence

• Expanded definition of Telepresence by Thomas
  Sheridan (1994)
• Presence is a theoretical concept describing the
  effect that people experience when they interact
  with a computer-mediated or computer-generated
  environment.

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What is Presence?

• Sense of being present in an environment
• A physical
• Virtual
• Imagined
• Hallucinated feeling
• Being there is all in your head
• Therefore it is tough to measure

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Open Research Questions

• Is there a definition of presence that is
  sufficiently operational and quantitative to be
  useful?
• What are the factors that create a sense of
  presence?
• Are there subjective and objective measures that
  can quantify presence?

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More Questions

• Are there applications for which a sense of
  presence actually improves operator performance?
• Are there applications for which presence is a
  necessary ingredient? If so, how are these
  applications different from applications for
  which a more traditional display system is just
  as effective?

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Sheridan (1992)
Sensory Information

• Physical aspects of an experience that determine
  presence
• What Sensory data is available and how much?
• Can the sensors be controlled?
• Can the environment be modified?

Ability to Modify Environment
Control of Sensors
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Why is Presence applicable to Robotics

• One of definition of the word robot might be
• Any device that supports
• Sensing
• Actuation, and
• Control

Sensory Information
Ability to Modify Environment
Control of Sensors
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How do we measure presence?

• Well, it turns out, not very well
• Subjective Measurements
• Questionnaires soliciting opinion about
  experience
• Indirect Psychological Measurements
• Relate stimulus magnitude to opinion about the
  stimulus magnitude
• Objective Measurements
• Based on
• Performance measures of tasks
• Physiological responses

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Questionnaires

• Example
• Witmer and Singer Questionnaire
• Questions about reactions to virtual environments
• Hope to create consistency across systems
• General Approach among questionnaires
• Take assumptions about what presence is and make
  up questions concerning the assumptions

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Immersive Tendency Questionnaire
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Virtual Environment-Centric
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Physiological Responses

• Theory
• The real world changes our physiological
  responses to it.
• A remote or virtual world should do the same if
  we are immersed in it.
• Cardiovascular, Respiratory,
• Nervous, Sensory,
• Blood Chemistry

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Measure this

• Relax
• Find your Pulse
• Watch this

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Performance measures

• Success vs. failure measures
• Based on individual task performance
• Eg Bottle tests for teleoperation (next slide)
• Suspension of belief
• Observable changes in mode of behavior relative
  to interface
• Forgetting the interface is there.
• Instinctual responses
• Ducking at approaching objects
• Leaning into a perceived curve
• Vocalizations

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The Bottle Test

• While testing for presence is hit and miss,
  testing for other things can be quite easy
• This is the poor mans testing strategy
• When you have nothing else, you can test an
  operators concentration and ability to focus
  with a simple bottle of water

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The Bottle Test
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Example Simulated Rollercoaster
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How to Measure the Presence

• Subjective Measure
• Questionnaire concerning feeling before and after
  ride
• Indirect Psychological
• Perceived speed of ride vs. stimulus producing
  this perception
• Physiological
• Heart rate during ride

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How would you measure these?
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Some Heuristics for Presence

• Everyone brings their own state of mind (Gestalt)
  to a situation.
• There is a large difference between the intensity
  of actually being there and being virtually or
  distantly there.
• perceptions and behavior of and in real-world
  situations may be modified based on virtual or
  mediated experiences
• Presence is consequence free

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Where is presence important?

• Entertainment
• Training
• Education

• Therapy
• Pain control
• Rehabilitation

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Remember what I said about Gestalt