Beam yourself to work in a remote-controlled body
September 26, 2012
The Beam Remote Presence System is the most natural, effortless way to connect people separated by distance (credit: Suitable Technologies)
To make it more practical for engineers and others living in cheaper places to telecommute to work, Suitable Technologies (a Willow Garage spinoff) has developed a roving telepresence system that is more practical and less awkward to use than previous systems, says founder Scott Hassan, Technology Review reports.
The $16,000 Beam Remote Presence telepresence system, now available, can save on the expense and time of long-haul travel and allows remote workers to be more fully integrated into an office, he says. ”Being able to source people from anywhere in the world is a big advantage to companies.”
Comments (19)
by John North
I dunno, I rather have a remote terminator. You know, the one without the fake tissue, the bare metal model with red eyes. “I hear you’re lagging behind again” I’ll say/warn, with beaming red eyes and while deforming a metal object with my robot hand.
by Cynic
Very similar but more expensive than those from http://www.doublerobotics.com/
We’ve ordered one of these for our New Zealand office
by Christian Gehman
Great — only where are the arms and legs?
by Martin
Is there anything here that couldn’t be accomplished using chat messengers/social networks and/ a phone?
by Editor
Yes, creating the illusion of a personal interaction.
by Kennita
Yes, being able to interact (with visual cues) with people anywhere in the building rather than just in one room within a cone of the fixed camera. Mind you, some people may resent having to change out of their jammies…. :-)
by PK
Useful technology, but this doesn’t fully take the place of face-to-face meetings, as a lot of human communication is more biological than this allows for. Also, I can see people being creeped out by having their bosses in robot bodies sneak up at any moment.
by asdf
How doesn’t this take the place of face-to-face meetings? Please identify an instance of where a complex idea cannot be verbally described or gestured via the video link.
by Don Joe
Why would the boss worry about sneaking up in a robot body, when he could just as easily peek in though a surveillance camera, which is even more creepy ;-)
by Timothy
They stole this idea from a bad sitcom–the Big Bang Theory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSx0NxC-r6g&feature=related
by Travis
Your comment made me laugh. The robot on Big Bang Theory was the Texai… Suitable Technologies’ prototype: http://www.hizook.com/blog/2010/09/30/willow-garages-texai-telepresence-robot-makes-cameo-appearance-big-bang-theory
by Gort
This is the antithesis of the future.
Decentralize and distribute yourselves humans.
Why do you have to drive somewhere to work?
You can work from anywhere doing practically anything.
Verticalization and centralization are outdated concepts of hierarchy, bureaucracy, authority, and herd mentality.
Free yourselves if you can handle it.
Or be another worker drone in a dense vertical (or horizontal) prison slave camp under constant surveillance.
Apple, Google, Microsoft – All outdated models of hierarchy, bureaucracy, and centralization.
Distribute yourselves and be free – or continue being a servant in outdated systems controlled by outdated thinkers exploiting low wage slave labor to enrich themselves and a limited few.
The choice is yours.
by Gorden Russell
The most interesting thing about this gadgetron is that it can back itself into the charger and find the plug. I can really see attending a meeting by telepresence when there are kids in the house. They’ll be running up and interrupting your discussion every five minutes. And if you yell at them to leave you alone while you are busy they will grow up seeing you as cold and distant and will need analysis in adulthood.
by Mark
This is apposed to leaving your home for a few days to fly across the globe to take part in the meeting. Okay, if you can’t lock your office door for 30 minutes take your laptop out of your house to a nearby quiet room. Heck, renting a hotel room would be more cost effective.
Either way, that’s really a non-issue.
by Hoss
$16,000 is a jip, but could airlines, hotels and rental car companies survive even a 20% loss of business travelers?
by luca
W-w-what!!??
16K?
There are plenty of devices like this by ten years for a price at an order magnitude cheaper!
Definitively not a robot!
For this price at least a pair of robotic arm.
by Gorden Russell
”Being able to source people from anywhere in the world is a big advantage to companies.”
But if they want to source an engineer, a pair of robot arms would be a good idea. If business really wants these telepresence systems, then competition will drive down the price to where you can have a janitor in Bangladesh cleaning a medical office in the U.S.
by Eric Patton
This looks suspiciously like that scene from Demolition Man where Raymond Cocteau was in a meeting with people on TV screens that could swivel around.
A long way from doing remote surgery or exploring the Arctic from your bedroom.
by Aaron
…Not as interesting as I thought it would be. Definitely has merit though. I wonder why it’s $16,000 though? You can basically do the same thing on an iPhone…