  This paper considers how the motions of a telepresence robot moving
autonomously affect a person immersed in the robot through a head-mounted
display. In particular, we explore the preference, comfort, and naturalness of
elements of piecewise linear paths compared to the same elements on a smooth
path. In a user study, thirty-six subjects watched panoramic videos of three
different paths through a simulated museum in virtual reality and responded to
questionnaires regarding each path. Preference for a particular path was
influenced the most by comfort, forward speed, and characteristics of the
turns. Preference was also strongly associated with the users' perceived
naturalness, which was primarily determined by the ability to see salient
objects, the distance to the walls and objects, as well as the turns.
Participants favored the paths that had a one meter per second forward speed
and rated the path with the least amount of turns as the most comfortable.
