No longer do you have to rely on someone to reserve a room with video conferencing, remember an appointment or set up a conference call. Simply log in to your telepresence robot and interact with people just as if you were there.
A number of companies are now involved at the cutting edge of the telepresence robotics industry including Anybots, VGo and the Willow Garage spin-off, Suitable Technologies.
Anybots, whose founder, noted roboticist Trevor Blackwell, has a vision: to have the robot serve as an "avatar" - a replacement for a person who can't attend a meeting. His robot consists of a head, with eyes, and a display screen that allows users to show their faces. But it also goes a step farther - being an avatar, it serves as a replacement body for its remote users, enabling them to move around a conference table, wander from office to office, or just meet people in the hallway.
"The next generation of robots will be about letting people to do something remotely in several locations over the course of a day, so they don't have to get on a plane and travel," Blackwell says. "Not having to fly places is a delightful advantage. That's our Holy Grail - to make business travel obsolete." - Design News
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| Anybots.com |
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| vgocom.com |
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| suitabletech.com |
For now, these robotic representations of remote workers are pretty neat, but still a bit clumsy and not yet close to accurately mimicking the presence of a real person.
Other than work, telepresence robots have been found to be useful for children who are too ill to attend school or other events. Children’s Hospital Boston is sending some bedside manner home with its discharged patients via a pilot program that integrates telepresence robots into its regular post-op care regimen. Using five robots made by Vgo Communications Inc., doctors and nurses are opening a direct line of communication and observation between themselves and patients even as they recover at home.
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