A medical telepresence system includes, at a first location, a local videocamera having a fieldof view and a medical treatment device having a device display for displayingreal-timeinformation and also having a device control interface. The local video camerais coupled to acommunications link for transmitting video images to a second location that isphysicallyremote from the first location. The medical treatment device is positioned sothat the devicedisplay and the device control interface are within the field of view of thelocal video cameraand the field of view also simultaneously accommodates a patient. The localvideo cameracan be a robot video camera carried by a mobile telepresence robot, which mayinclude aphysical manipulator or a manually positionable arm to hold the medicaltreatment device.
