Autonomous virtual humans and social robots in telepresence

Telepresence refers to the possibility of feeling present in a remote location through the use of technology. This can be achieved by immersing a user to a place reconstructed in 3D. The reconstructed place can be captured from the real world or can be completely virtual. Another way to realize telepresence is by using robots and virtual avatars that act as proxies for real people. In case a human-mediated interaction is not needed or not possible, the virtual human and the robot can rely on artificial intelligence to act and interact autonomously. In this paper, these forms of telepresence are discussed, how they are related and different from each other and how autonomy takes place in telepresence. The paper concludes with an overview of the ongoing research on autonomous virtual humans and social robots conducted in the BeingThere centre.