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Remote Presence Robots

[Updated 5-26-2002]

In the sense that virtual reality means you being in a fake universe, a remote presence robot means a fake you in the real universe -- kind of like a telephone, but where instead of just hearing and being heard you can actually see and be seen, move around, and potentially pick up things, etc.

See and Be Seen?

It isn't too unusual these days to come across a press release about some organization's latest and greatest contribution to the world of remote presence robots. Unfortunately there are two key features all the products and prototypes seem to lack: height, and a face. These probably aren't important in a robot that allows a worker in Bangalor to fix your furnace in Boston, but I believe they're important for any remote presence robot used in any setting with social implications. When you're riding around "in" a remote presence robot you don't want to be looking at people's knees. Also, who's going to start a conversation with you if they don't know who you are? Without a face, the robot is the personality. Can you imagine anyone at the remote location walking up to you and saying "Hi Mister Robot, who are you today?" Of course not. They'll just avoid you or ignore you. Conventional videoconferencing is a two-way street; remote presence robots should be the same way.

Here's my concept of an office-based remote presence robot being used for serendipitous conversation with a coworker that would not happen over the phone, over stationary videoconferencing, or using a short robot with no face:

Impromptu meetings using a remote presence robot

My sole work in this area consists of this term paper for a night course I was taking on internet protocols at the Harvard Extension School in Fall 2001: Communications Design for a Remote Presence Robot (.doc, large -- 2mb). It's basically a "here's what I think would be neat" paper. I had to throw in some communications details because it was a course on internet protocols, after all.

Just today (5/26/2002) a Wired News story ran about Evolution Robotics' new consumer model -- perhaps more of an autonomous robot than a remote presence robot, but to a certain extent you are the driver. What its creators are probably most proud of is its ability to find its way around by looking for objects it recognizes. What I find almost as exciting is the way it's packaged -- it's a laptop peripheral. They didn't waste any effort or purchase price designing a PC into it because you supply your own. Laptops aren't just for prototyping anymore!

Here's a thought: Forget artificial legs. What we need is a remote presence robot mounted on top of a Segway scooter (and high speed wide area wireless connectivity). You could use it to go run errands without leaving your easy chair.

I've never been to Australia but I stacked three blocks there. You can too with this remote presence robot arm: Telerobot, University of Western Australia

Here's another remote presence robot you can actually buy (yes, it's short and has no face, but take it seriously anyway): irobot