[This very short post from the Arduino blog, and the 4:20 minute video titled “We Built a Telepresence Robot (To Survive the Quarantine)” in the original version (and on YouTube), demonstrate how even basic DIY technology can be used to evoke presence. For more details see the project’s Hackaday page. –Matthew] Meet TELEBOT, the terrifying telepresence robot June 1, 2020 Arduino Team The Internet has been perhaps more important than ever to keep us connected these days. Available technology, however, apparently wasn’t good enough for brothers Hunter and Josh Irving, who built their own telepresence robot using parts on-hand during…

[Musician Jean-Michel Jarre will host an innovative concert in virtual reality on Sunday June 21, 2020, as described in this press release from VRrOOm (where it includes two more pictures). Coverage from AFP via Yahoo! News add this: Jarre said the concert will be one step beyond the lockdown concert performed by the US rapper Travis Scott inside the shooter game Fortnite in April, which was watched by more than 12 million players. “Everything will be done live,” Jarre told AFP, whereas with “Fortnite it was pre-recorded in a universe that already existed. Here it will be total immersion in…

[A new study comparing exercise combined with music, virtual reality, both, and neither, and measuring a variety of effects, provides more evidence for the benefits of presence. This story is from Forbes, where the original includes a second image; follow the link to the study for more details. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Photo by Amy E. Price/FilmMagic] Virtual Reality Makes Exercise More Enjoyable And Less Tiring, Study Finds Simon Chandler, Contributor June 16, 2020 Virtual reality makes exercise more enjoyable and less difficult, according to a new study published in the British Journal of Health Psychology. Authored by researchers from Brunel…

[This press release from XPRIZE and All Nippon Airways via Business Wire provides details about and links to a new 25-story archive of short stories about telepresence, including the winner of a contest judged by a large panel of science fiction experts. The stories provide more interesting material for the Telepresence in Media Environments project. –Matthew] [Image: Anya Ow’s “Life in Achar” awarded Top Prize in Avatars Inc Short Story Competition. Credit: Illustration by Mathis Burmeister.] XPRIZE Announces Winner of Global Short Story Contest to Imagine the Future of Telepresence Technologies Nearly 500 stories were submitted by writers in 33…

[While video games (and TV shows, books, etc.) provide valuable escape and distraction these days, this story describes how “gentle games” like Animal Crossing are providing an important sense of connection (social presence), along with safety, normalcy and control. The original version from MIT Technology Review includes several social media posts. –Matthew] Why games like Animal Crossing are the new social media of the coronavirus era Gentle, comforting games like Nintendo’s latest hit are perfect escapist entertainment, but they’re also helping us to connect in these strange times. by Tanya Basu April 16, 2020 If you’d told Areeba Imam a…

[This story from Oregon State University reports on an interesting new study comparing both student and instructor perceptions of a university class experienced in person, via distance learning and via telepresence robot. See the original version for two different images and for many more details see the published study. -Matthew] [Image: Fig. 3 from “Are We There Yet? Comparing Remote Learning Technologies in the University Classroom.” Participant responses to the post-class survey questions, separated by condition. The bars show the mean response for each grouping, and the error bars illustrate +/- one standard deviation. Starred lines above the bars indicate…

[A newly granted Apple patent would allow people in the same or different locations to create (and later modify) group selfie photos automatically, an intriguing way to manipulate perceptions of reality especially during social distancing. 9to5Mac is among the many publications covering the development; follow the link at the end of this story for more details and images. –Matthew] [Image: Source: KnowTechie] Apple patent would let you create virtual group selfies with social distancing Ben Lovejoy June 8, 2020 An Apple patent first filed almost two years ago looks rather prescient today: it allows you to create virtual group selfies…

[This story from ZDNet describes efforts to create presence experiences of original art in people’s homes, an especially useful prospect during the social distancing required by a pandemic. Follow the link (and submit your email address) to read the sponsored study comparing EEG and self-reported memory for art presented in four formats: “Augmented reality, virtual reality, a 2-dimensional image on an iPad, and a real painting hung in [a] museum’s gallery.” Find the new free Cuseum AR app by searching for Cuseum or the app name, [AR]T Museum.” And for more details see coverage from ARPost and a story in…

[The telepresence produced with Microsoft’s HoloLens headsets is being used to protect doctors, as reported in this story from Business Insider. For more information, a large photo gallery and a 1:00 minute video, see the Microsoft News Centre UK. –Matthew] Doctors in London hospitals are using headsets from Microsoft to reduce the amount of staff coming into contact with COVID-19 patients Isobel Asher Hamilton May 25, 2020 Doctors in London hospitals are using mixed-reality headsets from Microsoft to reduce the amount of staff coming into contact with COVID-19 patients. The headsets look like a visor that encircles the head, and…

[Escape the travails of 2020 on earth with a new virtual reality visualization from NASA; more details, images, and multiple videos are available in the original version of this story from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory. –Matthew] A New Galactic Center Adventure in Virtual Reality A new visualization, “Galactic Center VR,” features simulations of material streaming toward the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole known as Sgr A*. Users can experience the last 500 years of cosmic evolution in this area in a free virtual reality program. Blue and cyan show the simulation’s X-ray emission from hot gas due to the supersonic…

[If (tele)presence is the illusion that mediated experience is nonmediated reality, inverse presence is the illusion that the nonmediated experience of reality is mediated. As Lydia Timmins and I found, it’s particularly likely to occur during extremely negative or positive events. DesignTAXI is one of several publications reporting on a clever mock ad that illustrates this phenomenon. Designboom adds this: The mock-up of the outdoor advertising campaign sees Madrid’s bus stops fitted with a mirrored surface that reads: “BLACK MIRROR: 6th Season. Live Now, everywhere.” Citizens wearing masks, face shields and gloves are portrayed in the pictures, adding an extra…

[Until, and then after, it’s safe to have large crowds attend sporting events, technology can help create the illusion of being part at the event together, as reported in this story from CBS Los Angeles (see the original version for a 1:20 minute video). Note the explicit reference to presence in the last paragraph. –Matthew] [Image: Source: “Sports VR Innovator Closes $2.36m Seed Round” in BusinessCloud] Can Virtual Reality Help Sports Fans Experience Game Day In A Post COVID-19 World? May 27, 2020 Ryan Mayer (CBS Local/CBSLA)- “If I really do want to establish a feeling that I’m there, then…