Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Telepresence Robot Roundup With Anybot
Telepresence robots allow a remote user to not only view a distant scene (like a conference room or job site) but to move around and explore it. A variety of robots are shown below to illustrate the many uses to which robotic telepresence may be put.
Anybot
A recent startup entry is Anybots, which makes the $15,000 device shown below accosting a local worker.
(Anybot telepresence robot)
At the Anybots lab in Mountain View, Calif., a row of robots sits silently waiting to be awakened and called to duty. Blackwell clicks a thumbnail image of one model on his laptop screen and then moves the robot forward, backward, left or right by pressing the arrow keys on the keyboard.The Anybot leans forward and then its two wheels start rolling much like a Segway. The top speed is three miles an hour, and infrared radar prevents the robot from bumping into anything. The head, which sits atop a telescoping pole, has two “eyes,” one for capturing video and the other for a still camera. The operator can also use a laser pointer in the head to point things out. A speaker on the robot’s head lets the operator talk to people with the robot, while a mic picks up their comments back to him.
HeadThere Giraffe Telepresence Robot
Special software on your PC or laptop allows you to log into your Giraffe and control its movements, including scooting here and there by maneuvering the robot's base. Presumably, you have a computer with voice input; this allows you to talk to others remotely.
(HeadThere Giraffe telepresence robot)
The screen has a remotely-adjustable tilt to allow you to pan the camera; it also makes it look like you're actually paying attention.
Tmsuk Telepresence Shopper
Tmsuk has introduced a telepresence shopper robot; a prototype is shown below. The robotic shopper responds to commands sent by remote cell phone users.
(Tmsuk TMSUK-4 humanoid telepresence robot)
In a recent demonstration in the city of Kitakyushu, Japan, an infirm grandmother was able to control the telepresence shopper robot with an NTT DoCoMo video-capable cell phone.
IvanAnywhere Do-It-Yourself Telepresence Robot
Programmer Ivan Bowman telecommutes to work by running his robotic alter-ego IvanAnywhere around the office. This is a catch-up story for me; I'd seen this idea about a quarter-century ago in a Niven and Pournelle novel.
(Ivan Bowman and telerobot IvanAnywhere)
RP-7 Telepresence Robot Dad
A remote-controlled telepresence robot was used by Army Staff Sgt. Erik Lloyd to see and interact with his family and seven day-old son. The (rather good-looking) camo-enhanced device has a live video uplink and responds to remote control.
(RP-7 telepresence robot impersonates a military man)
InTouch Companion: Medical Rounding Robot
InTouch Health is now leasing a remote-controlled medical telepresence robot called The Companion to hospitals and nursing homes nationwide. The 200 pound robots stand about five feet tall and have computer screens for "heads"; they are controlled remotely by physicians with a wireless broadband Internet connection, the right software and a joystick control.
(From Robotic doctor makes the rounds at Oakwood hospital)
The modern field of telepresence robotics is a good example of what science fiction writers Niven and Pournelle were talking about in their 1981 novel Oath of Fealty. A chief engineer uses robot probes to be several places at once in a huge arcology.
at led to his development of robot probes; small devices with cameras and sound equipment which could move freely through Todos Santos under Rand's direct control. If he sent out two or three of the small tele-operated devices (he called them Arr-twos after the small droid in Star Wars), Rand could effectively be in several places at once...
(Read more about robot probes)
This is a relatively early reference to this technology; serious real-world efforts didn't get started until the mid-1990's. Do you know an earlier reference?
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/28/2010)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..' - Ernst Junger, 1957.
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.' - Neal Asher, 2008.
How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.' - Frederik Pohl, 1954
Satyress Centaur Robot Horror Reminds Everyone Of Something
'Fess was very dutiful' - Christopher Stasheff, 1969.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Sleeper Drones Lie in Wait
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.'
Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!'
Don't Want To Wear A TIght Shiny Bodysuit?
'He looked a good bit like an elderly, fat beetle.'
Light Society: Simulates Earth-Scale Society With A Billion AI Agents
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
Satyress Centaur Robot Horror Reminds Everyone Of Something
'Fess was very dutiful'
When Colds Threaten You Can't Do This - Or Can You?
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft
'Then he became aware of a gentle pressure pushing him away from the ship.'
Biological War: A Scenario
'And now they wre busily transforming all their companions, and so on, and so on...'
Pole-Dancing Stripperbot Robot
'Why, a clockwork dancer, or, better still, one that would go by electricity and never run down...'
Collective Superintelligence Is At Hand!
'Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence...'
Instant Journalists: Ordinary People With Cell Phones
'We'll show them whose planet this is!'
