The overall aim of this work is to provide some guidelines for the design of tele-presence systems from a human factors point of view. Developers of such human-machine systems face at least two major problems: There are hardly any standard input devices, and guiding design principles are almost missing. Further, most often telepresence systems should enable both a high degree of performance and a high sensation of presence, and yet the relationship between these two variables is still a subject of research. To cope with some of the problems, two experimental studies are presented. Each focuses on a different aspect of interface design, which is of widespread interest in the field of telepresence systems. The first is related to the control of multiple degrees of freedom and the second refers to bimanual input control. Beyond this work, a meta-analytical study is presented to describe the relationship between presence and performance more precisely. Certainly there are more issues that have to be studied (e.g., perceptual aspects) to guide the design of telepresence systems. To provide a framework for these and further human factor aspects, a computer based design guide is suggested at the end. This tool addresses system developers and assists in realizing new interfaces more effectively.

Telepresent tasks involve removal of the human operator from an immediate working area and relocation to a remote environment that offers the operator all necessary control features. In this remote location, the operator must be provided with adequate feedback information such that the task at hand can be effectively executed. This research explores the effectiveness of various feedback methods. More specifically, graphical feedback in the form of video streamed images is compared against rendered 3D models, the overall effectiveness of haptic feedback is analyzed, and the influences of sensory augmentation and sensory substitution are examined. This study involved 48 participants, each of whom executed a simple clockwork assembly task under various feedback mechanisms. The results support the use of 3D models as opposed to live video streams for graphical presentation, utilization of haptic feedback (which was found to significantly enhance operation effectiveness), and the use of sensory augmentation and substitution under specific circumstances.