FeetBack: Augmenting Robotic Telepresence with Haptic Feedback on the Feet

In collaboration with Jens Maiero, Alireza Mogharrab, Ivan A. Aguilar, Ashu Adhikari, Bernhard E. Riecke, Ernst Kruijff, Carman Neustaedter, Robert W. Lindeman, Sumin Kim, and Abhipsa Panigrahi


An overview of the FeetBack system. A user operates a Beam telepresence robot with a distance sensor ring attached to its base, which scans the remote environment. Based on the proximity of objects surrounding the robot, haptic feedback is provided to the user's feet, including vibrotactile cues for objects further away and a force event for collisions. Users place their feet on a purpose-designed foot haptics platform, and can either stand or sit while operating the robot.


A remote user operating a telepresence robot using the FeetBack system. The remote user's feet are placed in the FeetBack platform, and the user is receiving haptic proximity (vibration) and collision (impact) feedback on their feet to signal obstacles near the robot.


A telepresence robot with the FeetBack sensor ring attached to its base.


Telepresence robots allow people to participate in remote spaces, yet they can be difficult to manoeuvre with people and obstacles around. We designed a haptic-feedback system called "FeetBack," which users place their feet in when driving a telepresence robot. When the robot approaches people or obstacles, haptic proximity and collision feedback are provided on the respective sides of the feet, helping inform users about events that are hard to notice through the robot's camera views. We conducted two studies: one to explore the usage of FeetBack in virtual environments, another focused on real environments. We found that FeetBack can increase spatial presence in simple virtual environments. Users valued the feedback to adjust their behaviour in both types of environments, though it was sometimes too frequent or unneeded for certain situations after a period of time. These results point to the value of foot-based haptic feedback for telepresence robot systems, while also the need to design context-sensitive haptic feedback.


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