Brennan Jones

About

Brennan Jones is a human-computer interaction researcher whose work centers on telepresence technologies, computer-mediated communication, and the design of shared experiences across distance. His research addresses a fundamental challenge of modern life: how can people separated by geography meaningfully participate in activities together? Jones has made significant contributions by investigating telepresence robots as tools for bridging this gap, exploring their use in contexts ranging from outdoor activities like geocaching and hiking ("Geocaching with a Beam," 78 citations) to everyday errands such as shopping ("Shopping Over Distance through a Telepresence Robot," 61 citations). His work extends into hybrid organizational environments, examining how extended reality telepresence technologies shape our sense of belonging in shared spaces ("Belonging There," 55 citations). Jones has also pushed the boundaries of telepresence system design itself, developing innovative solutions like VROOM, which enhances remote user representation in local spaces (38 citations), and FeetBack, a haptic-feedback system improving robot navigation awareness. With a cumulative body of work exceeding 250 citations, Jones continues to shape how researchers and designers think about presence, embodiment, and connection in an increasingly distributed world.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Geocaching with a Beam

   78 citations · 2018
2. 2
   Shopping Over Distance through a Telepresence Robot

   61 citations · 2018
3. 3
   Belonging There

   55 citations · 2021
4. 4
   VROOM: Virtual Robot Overlay for Online Meetings

   38 citations · 2020
5. 5
   FeetBack: Augmenting Robotic Telepresence with Haptic Feedback on the Feet

   14 citations · 2020
6. 6
   Designing an immersive and entertaining pervasive gameplay experience with spheros as game and interface elements

   7 citations · 2014

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links