  There is a growing need to deliver rehabilitation care to patients remotely.
Long term demographic changes, geographic shortages of care providers, and now
a global pandemic contribute to this need. Telepresence provides an option for
delivering this care. However, telepresence using video and audio alone does
not provide an interaction of the same quality as in-person. To bridge this
gap, we propose the use of social robot augmented telepresence (SRAT). We have
constructed a demonstration SRAT system for upper extremity rehab, in which a
humanoid, with a head, body, face, and arms, is attached to a mobile
telepresence system, to collaborate with the patient and clinicians as an
independent social entity. The humanoid can play games with the patient and
demonstrate activities.These activities could be used both to perform
assessments in support of self-directed rehab and to perform exercises.
  In this paper, we present a case series with six subjects who completed
interactions with the robot, three subjects who have previously suffered a
stroke and three pediatric subjects who are typically developing. Subjects
performed a Simon Says activity and a target touch activity in person, using
classical telepresence (CT), and using SRAT. Subjects were able to effectively
work with the social robot guiding interactions and 5 of 6 rated SRAT better
than CT. This study demonstrates the feasibility of SRAT and some of its
benefits.
