Lessons on telepresence from the Mars explorer Rovers: Merleau- Ponty and the open perceptual circuit

• Published in: Culture, theory and critique theory and critique, 2019-10, Vol.60 (3-4), p.344-358
• Main Author: Kerruish, Erika
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Articulation; Imagination; Mars; Merleau-Ponty, Maurice (1908-1961); Operators; Robotics; Transportation
• ISSN: 1473-5784; 1473-5776
• DOI: 10.1080/14735784.2019.1645610

The 2003 Mars Explorer Rovers (MER), Spirit and Opportunity were tele-robots operated by a complex collaborative process involving about 120 scientists and engineers. The scientists operating the Rovers experienced telepresence on Mars, raising questions about embodiment and the human capacity to transport itself across distance via data. This instance of telepresence is intriguing because it occurs in the absence of real-time interaction and sensory rich feedback, which are often deemed essential to telepresence. This paper argues that MER telepresence can be understood in terms of the open perceptual circuit, as developed by Aud Sissel Hoel and Annamaria Carusi from Merleau-Ponty's later writings. Remote operation employs a decentred body that is in an open perceptual circuit with its environment, interrelated with representations, data and tools. MER telepresence shows how Merleau-Ponty's thought about embodiment relationships extends beyond Don Ihde's account of the incorporation of tools as proxies into a body schema. Returning to the MER operators' experience enables the articulation of dimensions of telepresence that go beyond sensory rich, real time interaction, such as the embodied imagination, linguistic projection and cultural narratives.