[PRE REVIEW]: OpenTera WebRTC: A User-Friendly WebRTC Wrapper for JavaScript, C++ and Python

[editorialbot]

Submitting author: !--author-handle-->@mamaheux<!--end-author-handle-- (Marc-Antoine Maheux) Repository: https://github.com/introlab/opentera-webrtc Branch with paper.md (empty if default branch): Version: 0.6.0 Editor: Pending Reviewers: Pending Managing EiC: Daniel S. Katz

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Author instructions

Thanks for submitting your paper to JOSS @mamaheux. Currently, there isn't a JOSS editor assigned to your paper.

@mamaheux if you have any suggestions for potential reviewers then please mention them here in this thread (without tagging them with an @). In addition, this list of people have already agreed to review for JOSS and may be suitable for this submission (please start at the bottom of the list).

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[editorialbot]

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[editorialbot]

Software report:

github.com/AlDanial/cloc v 1.88  T=0.18 s (1331.1 files/s, 146997.7 lines/s)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Language                      files          blank        comment           code
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C++                              73           1503            575           9587
C/C++ Header                     63            776           1108           2731
JavaScript                       17            359            521           1955
Python                           22            511             40           1520
CSS                               1            289             47           1514
CMake                            16            192             35            880
Markdown                         21            221              0            590
YAML                              5             42              9            361
HTML                              7             47             39            199
TeX                               1             14              0            133
JSON                              2              0              0             66
Bourne Again Shell                3             14              2             37
Bourne Shell                      3              1              3              9
reStructuredText                  1              6              8              7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUM:                            235           3975           2387          19589
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

gitinspector failed to run statistical information for the repository

[editorialbot]

Wordcount for paper.md is 1245

[editorialbot]

:point_right::page_facing_up: Download article proof :page_facing_up: View article proof on GitHub :page_facing_up: :point_left:

[editorialbot]

Reference check summary (note 'MISSING' DOIs are suggestions that need verification):

OK DOIs

- None

MISSING DOIs

- 10.1037/tra0000703 may be a valid DOI for title: Loneliness, isolation, and social support factors in post-COVID-19 mental health.
- 10.1145/3505270.3558338 may be a valid DOI for title: Socially Distanced Games: Exploring the Future Opportunities of Remote Play
- 10.1145/3411764.3445512 may be a valid DOI for title: Tabletop Games in the Age of Remote Collaboration: Design Opportunities for a Socially Connected Game Experience
- 10.1155/2013/902316 may be a valid DOI for title: A Review of Mobile Robotic Telepresence
- 10.1007/s12553-021-00636-5 may be a valid DOI for title: OpenTera: A microservice architecture solution for rapid prototyping of robotic solutions to COVID-19 challenges in care facilities

INVALID DOIs

- doi:10.1515/pjbr-2021-0025 is INVALID (failed connection)

[danielskatz]

👋 @mamaheux - thanks for you submission. As it's not clear to me that this is research software as defined by JOSS, the editors will now discuss this. You should hear back in a week or so.

In the meantime, you could work on the possibly missing DOIs that editorialbot suggests, but note that some may be incorrect. Please feel free to make changes to your .bib file, then use the command @editorialbot check references to check again, and the command @editorialbot generate pdf when the references are right to make a new PDF. editorialbot commands need to be the first entry in a new comment.

[danielskatz]

@editorialbot query scope

[editorialbot]

Submission flagged for editorial review.

[mamaheux]

Thank you for your answer. I will fix the DOIs in the meantime.

[mamaheux]

@editorialbot check references

[editorialbot]

Reference check summary (note 'MISSING' DOIs are suggestions that need verification):

OK DOIs

- 10.1037/tra0000703 is OK
- 10.1145/3505270.3558338 is OK
- 10.1145/3411764.3445512 is OK
- 10.1155/2013/902316 is OK
- 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051769 is OK
- 10.1515/pjbr-2021-0025 is OK
- 10.1007/s12553-021-00636-5 is OK

MISSING DOIs

- None

INVALID DOIs

- None

[mamaheux]

@editorialbot generate pdf

[editorialbot]

:point_right::page_facing_up: Download article proof :page_facing_up: View article proof on GitHub :page_facing_up: :point_left:

[danielskatz]

@mamaheux - I'm sorry to say that after discussion amongst the JOSS editors, we have decided that this submission is not research software as defined by JOSS. This does not mean that it is not software that is useful in research, but just that JOSS does not consider it in scope for review as research software. Please see https://joss.readthedocs.io/en/latest/submitting.html#other-venues-for-reviewing-and-publishing-software-packages for other suggestions for how you might receive credit for your work.

[danielskatz]

@editorialbot reject

[editorialbot]

Paper rejected.

[mamaheux]

@danielskatz We focused on the following definition of research software as defined by JOSS: "supports the functioning of research instruments or the execution of research experiments."

Integration of key and widely adopted technologies is required for robotic research. Most research robots use the open-source Robot Operating System (ROS), which is an ecosystem offering a way to create/use modular robotics software. However, ROS lacks easy-to-use and up-to-date telepresence/videoconference software. Research projects sometimes require developing robots with customized research applications. Human Robot Interaction (HRI) is a robotics field that studies the interactions between robots and humans in different contexts or scenarios.

We aim to develop new telepresence robots and measure the usefulness of new features in remote environments such as long-term care facilities and older adult homes. To do so, a common telepresence/videoconference framework is required, but no open-source solution offers a simple way to develop such robots and commercially available platforms such as Skype, Microsoft Teams and Zoom cannot be customized to fit our needs. Formant.io offers subscription-based robotic fleet management solutions capable of performing telepresence calls. It is compatible with ROS, but has some limitations depending on the chosen plan and available features. Moreover, data retention can be a problem depending on the project’s requirements and universities’ ethical committee considerations.

We developed OpenTera-WebRTC to fill the gap for telepresence research. Integration of WebRTC in robots is not trivial and required significant development efforts. We believe OpenTera-WebRTC is beneficial for the robotics research community and is compatible with the provided definition of research software.

[doumdi]

@danielskatz, we are also preparing a JOSS submission for the higher level project "OpenTera" : https://github.com/introlab/opentera/tree/joss-paper-draft/joss-paper. Can you advise if it is suitable for JOSS, and what would be required for acceptation ?

[danielskatz]

Rather than just me trying to answer, can you open a new issue to discussion this? Please do point to this issue in it.