An Investigation into the Influence of Embodied Agents on the Social Presence Between Humans in Virtual Reality Rowing

This paper investigates the relations between the embodiment of virtual agents and the sense of social presence in virtual reality (VR) for rowing simulation. We carried out observations and an experimental study to investigate the role of embodied agents in social presence. We developed an embodied coxswain and set up an experimental study with two RP3 rowing machines, VR headsets, and various hardware and software components. Twenty-two participants tested the system under two conditions: with an embodied coxswain and with a non-embodied agent. Experiment results showed a significant increase in perceived social presence in the VR between participants when rowing together with the embodied coxswain. Our findings illustrate the challenges and benefits of more realistic coxswain representations in VR rowing and pave the path for further exploration into the virtual agent characteristics in other sports that can enhance social presence for colocated participants in VR settings.