Teleoperation of multiple robots has been studied extensively for applications such as robot navigation
however, this concept has never been applied to the field of social robots. To explore the unique challenges posed by the remote operation of multiple social robots, we have implemented a system in which a single operator simultaneously controls up to four robots, all engaging in communication interactions with users. We present a user inter-face designed for operating a single robot while monitoring several others in the background, then we propose methods for characterizing task difficulty and introduce a technique for improving multiple-robot performance by reducing the number of conflicts between robots demanding the operator's attention. Finally, we demonstrate the success of our system in laboratory trials based on real-world interactions. Copyright 2008 ACM.