Human Surrogates: Remote Presence for Collaboration and Education in Smart Cities

Abstract

A human surrogate is any object, virtual, physical or even a blend of virtual and physical, that acts as a stand-in for a human. Surrogates can be directly controlled or just given a specific task to carry out on behalf of a human. In the context of a virtual environment, a surrogate is more often referred to as an avatar, reflecting that it is intended to represent the person in some context, rather than just carrying out a specific task on his or her behalf. In essence, an avatar is a manifestation of the human who is "inhabiting" it. A person's avatar can look like the inhabiter or look like some other person, or even be a personification of some non-human character Generally, the inhabiter controls all critical actions, verbal and non-verbal, of his or her avatar, although the specific manifestation of the avatar may place constraints on how it carries out some of these desired behaviors. The research presented here involves the use of avatars and other forms of human surrogates as remote entities that can be employed for situations that involve interpersonal skills. More specifically, we focus on the use of avatars in collaborative situations and in the delivery of training and education, especially when physical co-presence is difficult or even undesirable. In these contexts, difficulty most often relates to spatial separation of the human participants and undesirability relates to the need to have one's surrogate present an appearance and exist in a context that differs from one's own. For other situations, such as carrying out dangerous or humanly impossible physical tasks, a remote avatar may be required for safety or even successful completion. In Smart Cities, human surrogates and avatars can help make people more effective, safer, better educated and more facile at learning new skills required for employment and other life events.