Human-Robot-Human: the natural dimension of the telepresence robotics design

Telepresence robotics, a declination of social robotics, has introduced a new concept of the naturalness of human-machine relations, which have turned into human–machine-human relations. The robot becomes a mediator between people at a distance, who today communicate with their faces and voices through a screen, but who could complete their human characteristics through their bodies tomorrow. The concept of naturalness in the field of telepresence robotics refers to two dimensions of ecology: environmental ecology, through the energy savings associated with possible distant relations without the need for travel; human ecology, through person-to-person (s) communication, conducted with a natural transposition of the human figures with their expressions, gestures, voice and behaviour. We are, therefore, moving towards a new humanism of robotics (robot ethics) in which the machine is not designed to replicate man (cyborgs) but becomes an extension or prosthesis of the real person. The person and the machine together become members of an ecosystem where human relationships, even if at a distance, are at the centre of the new performance, in terms of ‘naturalness’, offered by the robotic machine. The chapter provides an unpublished overview of interdisciplinary studies on the evolution of the concept of telepresence robotics. These are experiments in which the contribution of design to developing the telepresence service in different social contexts and of a robotic machine that can be characterised in its embodiment and interaction with the person is fundamental.