The Potential of Telepresence Robots for Intergroup Contact Avner Peled1 a, Teemu Leinonen1 b and Beatrice´ Hasler2 c 1Department of Media, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland 2Sammy Ofer School of Communications, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Herzliya, Israel Keywords: Intergroup Contact, Human-Robot Interaction, Telepresence, Conflict Resolution. Abstract: We propose the use of telepresence robots as a medium for intergroup contact that aims at reducing prejudice between groups in conflict. We argue for robots as a midpoint between online communication and a face- to-face meeting, combining the flexibility of the virtual world and the depth of physical interactions. We define the basic architecture of telepresence systems and present a conceptual framework for robot-mediated encounters in an intergroup context. We then provide design guidelines for telepresence systems that may guide future implementations of robotic intergroup contact. 1 INTRODUCTION space. The hypotheses presented in this article are par- The pervasive role of technology in intensifying the tially based on observations from an initial test we ability of humans to harm one another is well known; conducted on intergroup telepresence contact (Peled, the use of technology to promote peace at both the 2019). The test system included one remotely con- collective and personal levels is considerably more trolled telerobot that facilitated conversations be- modest. Over the years there have been calls within tween immigrants and local participants. We have an- the Human-Computer Interaction research commu- alyzed the results qualitatively through post-session nity to promote the use of technology to support peace interviews. in world conflicts (Hourcade and Bullock-Rest, 2011; Eckert et al., 2019). Often when people think of a technological contribution to conflict resolution, the 2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK emphasis is placed on decision support and negotia- tion for policymakers and national leaders. A differ- ent approach that is taken in the current paper, is using 2.1 Intergroup Contact Hypothesis technology to reconcile the ‘common’ people in a sit- uation of conflict and build more positive intergroup The contact hypothesis, as formulated by Gordon All- relations from the bottom up. port in his seminal book The Nature of Prejudice One of the most prominent models that act as a (1954), specifies four conditions that need to be ful- guideline for this approach is the contact hypothe- filled during positive intergroup contact: equal status, sis (Allport, 1954), which states that under the right having common goals, active cooperation, and insti- conditions, encounters with members of the opposing tutional support. Fifty years later, a meta-analysis group (i.e., the outgroup) can lead to reduced preju- across more than 500 studies in a variety of inter- dice and more harmonious intergroup relations. We group contexts (Pettigrew and Tropp, 2006) has re- propose using robots as a communication medium for vealed that contact is an effective means to reduce such contact, as they combine both the flexibility and prejudice. However, the meta-analysis also showed accessibility of online communication and the corpo- that the conditions are not strictly essential for a pos- reality of face-to-face encounters in a shared physical itive outcome, yet they are factors among others that facilitate it. Later research focused on expanding the a https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0525-6385 theory to include more conditions such as forming b https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6227-052X cross-group friendships (Cook, 1962) and identifying c https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3251-4677 affective drivers, such as empathy and (reduced) anxi- 210 Peled, A., Leinonen, T. and Hasler, B. The Potential of Telepresence Robots for Intergroup Contact. DOI: 10.5220/0010148102100217 In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computer-Human Interaction Research and Applications (CHIRA 2020), pages 210-217 ISBN: 978-989-758-480-0 Copyright c 2020 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved The Potential of Telepresence Robots for Intergroup Contact ety, that play a mediating role in contact interventions tion to corporeality, leading to psychological deficits, (Pettigrew et al., 2011; Brown and Hewstone, 2005). such as depersonalization and derealization or body An additional factor that moderates the outcome of neglect (Spiegel, 2018). Additionally, immersive contact is group salience, the degree in which the par- perspective-taking risks in assuming an ‘improper ticipants’ group identity is evident. A high level of distance’ (Chouliaraki, 2011; Nash, 2018) between group salience facilitates the generalization of atti- the viewer and the outgroup member, in which one tudes from the interpersonal level to the group level subordinates the other, incorporating their representa- (Voci and Hewstone, 2003). tion, rather than recognizing their irreducible alterity. Most previous intergroup contact studies were Prejudice can be seen as an abstraction of the conducted in face-to-face (FtF) settings. However, human body (Ahmed, 2000); yet despite the inher- face-to-face contact can be challenging to implement, ent abstraction in virtual mediums and the widely particularly in areas of violent conflict (Hasler and recognized role the body in forming social cogni- Amichai-Hamburger, 2013). Organizers commonly tion (Dewey, 1986; Merleau-Ponty, 2013; Gallagher, face practical issues such as gathering diverse groups, 2006; Malafouris, 2013), little attention has been finding a neutral, accessible location, and compensat- given to robots as a tool for intergroup contact. Re- ing participants for travel expenses. Therefore, recent motely controlled robots (telerobots) have a lot in projects have used technology (especially online com- common with online mediums and may carry similar munication) to facilitate intergroup encounters. risks when used for contact. Nevertheless, telerobots have a physical presence; we use our bodies to inter- 2.2 Online Contact act with robots just as we would with a living being. They provide corporeal depth to mediated contact, sit- uating a midpoint between online communication and Communication technologies expand the models of an FtF meeting. contact and add new modalities of interaction while compromising on the benefits of traditional FtF en- 2.3 Telepresence and Telerobots counters. Research on online intergroup contact has shown its potential to reduce prejudice and aid in Originally, the term telepresence was used by Mar- conflict resolution (Amichai-Hamburger et al., 2015; vin Minsky and Patrick Gunkel to describe a vision of Hasler and Amichai-Hamburger, 2013; Walther et al., a futuristic economy in which people perform man- 2015). However, online contact is not always con- ual, physical labor from remote locations (Minsky, structive, and may result in a negative outcome and in- 1980). Although the term is nowadays used to de- creased prejudice. The remote nature of the medium scribe a human’s presence in a virtual environment makes participants less accountable for their actions (Steuer, 1992), telepresence originally refers to the and less engaged in the conversation (White et al., experience of being in a remote environment that is 2015; Schumann et al., 2017). The lack of nonver- real and mediated by a physical sensing agent, that is, bal cues (Burgoon and Hoobler, 1994) obstructs the a telerobot. (Campanella, 2000). When a telerobot path to a mutual understanding and impairs the turn- serves as a remote representation of a human oper- taking process, which may evoke negative feelings ator, it is referred to as its avatar. In phenomeno- between the group members, such as anger and frus- logical terms, the experience of operating a teler- tration (Johnson et al., 2009). obot is named re-embodiment (Dolezal, 2009). To- Virtual reality (VR) is studied as a medium that day’s telerobots go beyond industrial use and are de- offers an immersive communication experience that ployed in social care (Michaud et al., 2007), education increases the user’s sense of embodiment during com- (Tanaka et al., 2014), and interpersonal communica- munication (Kilteni et al., 2012). It was positively tion (Ogawa et al., 2011), utilizing the internet as the evaluated for use in intergroup contact, both as a medium for tele-operation. space for dialog (Hasler et al., 2014), and as a tool that allows individuals to immerse themselves in the perspective of the other side (Hasson et al., 2019; Ka- 2.4 A Conceptual Model for biljo, 2019). However, along with its promise, VR Telepresence Contact also raises a number of ethical and moral concerns. While the experience of being in the virtual space Based on previous models of prejudice reduction in intensifies as the technology develops, our corporeal intergroup contact (Pettigrew, 1998; Brown and Hew- body is left behind as we subsume an abstract rep- stone, 2005), we suggest a conceptual model for resentation as our new reality (Penny, 1993). This telepresence-based contact (see fig. 1). We hypoth- quintessential mind-body split may alter one’s rela- esize that an ingroup member first develops an atti- 211 CHIRA 2020 - 4th International Conference on Computer-Human Interaction Research and Applications allowing it to capture their movements and trans- mit them to the telerobot representing them on the opposing end. This type of system is more chal- lenging to implement, and only a few implemen- tations exist as prototypes and proofs-of-concept