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Multi-destination beaming: Apparently being in three places at once through robotic and virtual embodiment

Kishore, S; Muncunill, XN; Bourdin, P; Or-Berkers, K; Friedman, D; Slater, M; (2016) Multi-destination beaming: Apparently being in three places at once through robotic and virtual embodiment. Frontiers in Robotics and AI , 3 , Article 65. 10.3389/frobt.2016.00065. Green open access

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Abstract

It has been shown that an illusion of ownership over an artificial limb or even an entire body can be induced in people through multisensory stimulation, providing evidence that the surrogate body is the person's actual body. Such body ownership illusions (BOIs) have been shown to occur with virtual bodies, mannequins, and humanoid robots. In this study, we show the possibility of eliciting a full-BOI over not one, but multiple artificial bodies concurrently. We demonstrate this by describing a system that allowed a participant to inhabit and fully control two different humanoid robots located in two distinct places and a virtual body in immersive virtual reality, using real-time full-body tracking and two-way audio communication, thereby giving them the illusion of ownership over each of them. We implemented this by allowing the participant be embodied in any one surrogate body at a given moment and letting them instantaneously switch between them. While the participant was embodied in one of the bodies, a proxy system would track the locations currently unoccupied and would control their remote representation in order to continue performing the tasks in those locations in a logical fashion. To test the efficacy of this system, an exploratory study was carried out with a fully functioning setup with three destinations and a simplified version of the proxy for use in a social interaction. The results indicate that the system was physically and psychologically comfortable and was rated highly by participants in terms of usability. Additionally, feelings of BOI and agency were reported, which were not influenced by the type of body representation. The results provide us with clues regarding BOI with humanoid robots of different dimensions, along with insight about self-localization and multilocation.

Type: Article
Title: Multi-destination beaming: Apparently being in three places at once through robotic and virtual embodiment
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2016.00065
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2016.00065
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2016 Kishore, Muncunill, Bourdin, Or-Berkers, Friedman and Slater. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Keywords: robotics, embodiment, virtual reality, multilocation, commercial robots and applications
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Computer Science
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10073413
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