Finding Your Way With Telepresence
Introduction
By Mark Ciotola
First published on September 22, 2024. Last updated on August 24, 2025.
I have long been fascinated by telepresence, literally the ability to be anywhere. High quality video conferencing is a form of telepresence. I facilitate videoconferences for CMU classes that literally span the globe.
It has been said that a long journey begins with a single step. Telepresence can change that. You can go on a long journey without taking any steps. Of course, unless you are using mere imagination, you will require technology.
The term telepresence was suggested by independent scholar and futurist Patrick Gunkel and popularized by computer scientist Marvin Minsky (Minsky, 1980) and originally referred to remote control tools. A more contemporary definition is “technology that enables a person to perform actions in a distant or virtual location as if physically present in that location” (Mirriam Webster).
The essence of telepresence is being able to sense and perceive a different location, typically bit not necessarily, in real time, and in more advance cases, performing actions in remote locations.
Broadly interpreting the term “remote”, an early form of telepresence can be said to be the telescope. As early as the 1500s, people were using telescopes to experience distant locations, from large expanses of seas to the moons of Jupiter. Gazing through a telescope is generally a passive form of telepresence. You can’t really do anything to what you see. This observation anticipates active telepresence, where you can take an active role in remote locations.
From a more modern perspective, “The IEEE Telepresence Initiative described telepresence as “a complex field, requiring knowledge and technology from robotics, extended reality, system networks, human-computer interaction, neuroscience, psychology, and artificial intelligence.”
Minsky felt that “the biggest challenge to developing telepresence is achieving that sense of ‘being there’.” (Minsky). In contrast, for some modern telepresence systems, such as video conferencing, good audio and visual communications are sufficient, whereas a sensory rich, tactile experience is not necessary or even desirable (IEEE Telepresence Initiative, 2024).
Telepresence is important because Sometimes it is important to be where you can’t be, or to operate in extreme, harsh environments, for the remote application of expertise, and in cases in which human capabilities, such as movement precision, are insufficient.
Telepresence is different than robotics. Robotic systems are autonomous. They do not require human intervention. Telepresence systems (aside from those that merely sense) require human control and operation. For example a remote telepresence rover would be driven by a human operating remote controls. A robotic rover would drive itself.
Review Questions
- What are three examples of telepresence?
- Who was an early telepresence pioneer?
Reference
IEEE Telepresence Initiative, 2024, “Chasing a Dream: The Quest for Minsky’s Concept of Telepresence, IEEE Telepresence Initiative White Paper”, November.
Minsky, Marvin, 1980, “Telepresence”, OMNI Magazine, June.
Mirriam Webster. Last viewed on 24 August 2025. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/telepresence