Privacy, Utility, and Cognitive Load in Remote Presence Systems

Abstract

As robotics technology improves, remotely-operated telepresence robots will become more prevalent in homes and businesses, allowing guests, business partners, and contractors to visit and accomplish tasks without being physically present. These devices raise new privacy concerns: a telepresence robot may be used by a remote operator to spy on the local area, or recorded video may be viewed by a third party. Video filtering is one method of reducing spying ability while still allowing the remote operator to perform their task. In this paper, we examine the effects of three different visual conditions (filters) on the remote operator’s ability to discern details while completing a navigation task. We found that applying such filters protected privacy without significantly affecting the operator’s ability to perform the task, and that a depth image filter was the most effective privacy protector. We also found that the cognitive load of driving the robot has a slight privacy-protecting effect.