Physical embodiment vs. smartphone: which influences presence and anthropomorphism most in telecommunication?

Abstract

Today, people are enjoying using teleconference systems like Zoom or Skype for social communication or for having drinks through a screen with others via the internet. In addition, some people have started using embodied systems called telepresence robots, such as the Beam robot. Some schools have started using telepresence robots so that students can attend school. However, in previous studies, systems have not been compared in terms of social presence and anthropomorphism, for example, robots compared with humans. Therefore, we wondered how the presence and anthropomorphism of such systems affect people. Therefore, we carried out a web-based experiment and conducted a one-way ANOVA (smartphone vs. telepresence robot with motion vs. without motion). Some people feel that telepresence robots bring a feeling of presence to remote places. Ironically, from the results, a video teleconference system using a smartphone and a telepresence robot did not create a feeling of presence, but regarding anthropomorphism, participants felt more of a human-likeness in the video teleconference system.