This paper introduces HoloBots, a mixed reality remote collaboration system that augments holographic telepresence with synchronized mobile robots. Beyond existing mixed reality telepresence, HoloBots lets remote users not only be visually and spatially present, but also physically engage with local users and their environment. HoloBots allows the users to touch, grasp, manipulate, and interact with the remote physical environment as if they were co-located in the same shared space. We achieve this by synchronizing holographic user motion (Hololens 2 and Azure Kinect) with tabletop mobile robots (Sony Toio). Beyond the existing physical telepresence, HoloBots contributes to an exploration of broader design space, such as object actuation, virtual hand physicalization, world-in-miniature exploration, shared tangible interfaces, embodied guidance, and haptic communication. We evaluate our system with twelve participants by comparing it with hologram-only and robot-only conditions. Both quantitative and qualitative results confirm that our system significantly enhances the level of co-presence and shared experience, compared to the other conditions.

翻译：本文提出HoloBots——一种将全息远程呈现与同步移动机器人相结合的混合现实远程协作系统。相较于现有混合现实远程呈现技术，HoloBots不仅能使远程用户在视觉与空间层面实现临场感，更能使其与本地用户及其物理环境进行实质性交互。该系统允许用户如同身处同一共享空间般，对远程物理环境执行触摸、抓取、操控及交互操作。我们通过同步全息用户动作（基于Hololens 2与Azure Kinect设备）与桌面移动机器人（基于Sony Toio设备）实现上述功能。相较于现有物理远程呈现技术，HoloBots在更广泛的设计空间展开探索，具体贡献包括：物体驱动、虚拟手部实体化、微缩世界探索、共享触觉界面、具身引导及触觉通信。我们通过十二名受试者参与的用户实验，将系统与纯全息及纯机器人两种对照条件进行对比评估。定量与定性结果均表明，相较于其他条件，本系统显著提升了共存感与共享体验水平。