Beam Me Up! Telepresent Data Collection Using a Beam Smart Presence System

• In Event: 42.072 - Observational Methodologies Across Informal Learning Spaces

Abstract

New technologies are making remote observation of learning experiences in museums and other educational settings not only feasible, but also a promising new mode for data collection. Mobile robotic devices that incorporate two-way audio/video functionality, such as the Beam Smart Presence System, can be controlled by an off-site researcher and ultimately enhance the types of data collection that can be performed from a remote location because they enable greater researcher-control as well as opportunities for live interaction. However, along with the promise of enhanced modes of telepresent data collection, there are also new challenges.

In the spring of 2016, a research team from Rockman et al with support from staff at the American Museum of Natural History in New York conducted a pilot test of data collection methodologies using a Beam device to conduct observations and interviews with museum visitors. Specifically, this pilot was designed to facilitate data collection related to exhibition elements within the “Secret Inside You” exhibit, funded by a grant from the National Institutes for Health’s Science Education Partnership Award (NIH-SEPA) program.

The navigational hurdles that go hand in hand with maneuvering an armless robot and the subsequent need for an additional onsite researcher to help facilitate the onsite data collection process, top the list of challenges encountered with this mode of data collection. Navigating dark spaces within the exhibition proved moderately challenging, as did a few WIFI dead-zones that presented connectivity challenges on the initial run-through the exhibition. These challenges, along with the logistics associated with managing visitors’ questions, navigating through more crowded areas of the museum to get to the exhibition, pressing elevator buttons, and opening doors, necessitate having a second researcher present onsite to help facilitate the telepresent data collection process.

In terms of the positive outcomes of this data collection pilot, we found that visitors were quite open—and in some cases, eager—to participate in interviews with the remote researcher. This is, of course, due in large part to the novelty of robotic technology and may dissipate over time as remotely-controlled robotics become more commonplace. Logistically, we were successful in controlling audio input and output settings so as to enable effective communication in areas with different levels of ambient sound. The video quality was also good, and settings that allowed the remote researcher to zoom-in to see things close-up (e.g., information on a touch-screen device where visitors were playing a game), proved to be an enhancement to onsite data collection un-aided by enhanced viewing technologies. We also found preliminary evidence to suggest that visitors may be better-able to tune out a telepresent researcher than a human research standing and observing visitors’ behaviors within the exhibition. When conducting onsite data collection from a vantage point that is close enough to see what visitors are doing, we find that they glance up occasionally at the observer, whereas the telepresent observer is essentially ignored after the initial observation that a robot is present in the exhibition.

Author

• Jennifer Borland, Rockman-Bloomington