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Posts Tagged ‘Telepresence’

iRobot And Cisco Build A Roving Telepresence Rig So Remote Workers Can Still Roam The Office

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It’s no secret that iRobot’s domestic cleaning machines can carry some interesting things while they putter around and wipe up your floors, and iRobot and Cisco have taken that notion to its next logical step. The two companies have just announced that they’ve taken this smart roving robotics platform and stuck this pricey enterprise video conferencing monitor on top, all to facilitate West Wing-style walk-and-talks with colleagues who couldn’t be bothered to schlep into the office.

We’ve seen plenty of curious telepresence rigs before, but this is the first that makes it a point to break away from the confines of a desk. Once everything is put together, the Ava 500 stands at about 5’5″ and artfully dodges office debris the same way the more janitorial units do. Meanwhile, those remote users also get to control that roving robot by way of an iPad app, though the process isn’t as hands-on as one might hope — the Ava 500 handles most of the control itself after the user selects a destination so it’s perfect for remotely touring dangerous corners of the factory floor, but not so perfect for doing donuts outside of Conference Room B.

In case the notion of buying one of these to remotely dick around with friends has you reaching for your checkbook, you may want to look into a less ambitious way to go. iRobot looks at the Ava 500 as a strictly enterprise device and it has a price tag to match: according to the Boston Herald, the Ava will cost companies in the neighborhood of $ 70,000 when it launches next year, or about $ 2,000-$ 2,500 if you lease it monthly.

iRobot teams up with Cisco for Ava 500 telepresence robot

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Author: Christen Arquette

We fully expected to see iRobot offer up further applications for its Ava development platform after *ahem* rolling out the RP-VITA, a medically-themed team up with In-Touch Health. The company’s second partner is a biggie: it’ll be working with Cisco on the Ava 500 telepresence bot. The system looks quite similar to the VITA, sporting what appears to be a nearly identical base. As with its predecessor, Ava’s controlled by a fairly simple iPad program — you can either pick a destination on a map or choose from a list of employee names and rooms you’d like to visit. Once inputted, the robot is autonomous in navigation, getting to the destination, while avoiding people and obstacles. When the meeting’s over, it’ll return to its base for charging.

On the top, however, you’ll find Cisco’s TelePresence EX60 end-point, bringing the company’s widely adopted platform to the mobile base, courtesy of a 21.5-inch HD display. The user’s face will show up on the screen as the ‘bot navigates through the halls, allowing you to talk about last night’s Mad Men, should you (figuratively) run into anyone around the water cooler. You can also switch to private mode, if telepresence small talk isn’t your thing. iRobot and Cisco will be showing off Ava at Infocomm later this month. If you can’t wait for that, however, you’ll find out a bit more in the press release after the break.

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Revolve Robotics Announces Kubi, A Telepresence Rig That Works Like Your Neck

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Kubi means “neck” in Japanese and that’s just what this new telepresence product is supposed to reproduce. This rig, designed to work with any tablet, essentially creates a user-controlled pivoting system that allows the person you are video-calling to control the position, angle, and rotation of the tablet camera.

It’s not amazingly complex nor is it completely mobile, facts that make Kubi far more interesting for, say, a small office or conference room. Controlling Kubi’s neck, the caller can look around the room, tilt the camera up and down, and keep the camera and tablet a safe distance from the proceedings. As a parent, I’d see Kubi being useful when talking with the family. Rather than one kid hogging the iPad, I could control my position remotely and see everyone in the room from a slight distance.

I talked with Kubi’s creators, Marcus Rosenthal and Ilya Polyakov, both of whom have extensive experience in robotics. They said that they didn’t want Kubi to be mobile “because motors are expensive” and the batteries used to power an upright robot would be prohibitively costly. In short, it was far simpler to create a cool telepresence system than a sub-par roaming robot.

As we tested the Kubi it became clear that this pair was onto something. By giving each party control over their view, the Kubi becomes a sort of surrogate head rather than a stationary webcam. Being able to move from person to person and look each participant in the eye is a cool feeling.

They’re selling pre-orders on the device for $ 200 on Indiegogo and are looking for funding of $ 200,000. I doubt it will be difficult.

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iRobot’s RP-VITA mobile telepresence robot iPad app eyes-on (video)

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Author: JohnnyBells

It’s a mouthful, we know, however the essence of the below video is this: a few months back, iRobot unveiled RP-VITA, a teleconferencing robotic with a rolling base. The business’s got all sorts of plans for the ‘bot, however is beginning things off with medical applications. It’s co-branded the device with InTouch Health, positioning it as an approach for enabling doctors to have the tendency to clients remotely. An iRobot employee took RP-VITA for a spin around InTouch’s Southern California mock medical center location, courtesy of an iPad at the robotics business’s Bedford, MA place.

The interface seems rather easy to use– just touch an area and RP-VITA starts driving, utilizing its sensors to avoid obstacles along the means as a corporate video feed show you where you’re going. Once you reach a patient, you can tap on their image to connect with them (in the situation of the dummies in the demonstration, however, that was much easier stated than done, of course). Along the bottom, the app provides the doctor big, easy-to-read vitals.

Check out a complete video of the demonstration after the break.

Continue reading iRobot’s RP-VITA mobile telepresence robot iPad app eyes-on (corporate video)

Filed under: RobotsiRobot’s RP-VITA mobile telepresence robot iPad app eyes-on (video clip) initially appeared on Engadget on Sun,18 Nov 2012 09:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink|| E-mail this|Remarks

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Hardware Alley At Disrupt — From Tele-Presence Robots To Golf Swing Sensors

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The great thing about Hardware Alley at TechCrunch Disrupt is – apart from the reality that it seems to grow larger at every event – is the sheer selection of companies displaying. There ’ s very much anything you can easily envision, and only two feet can separate a robotics business from a mobile gadget. But it ’ s the opportunity investors try to find I suspect. Here ’ s a list of the companies included in this break-neck video.

Thermo Essence Technologies

Thimble Bioelectronics

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Double Robotics’ telepresence robot gives your iPad legs

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Author: Angela Stephens

Double Robotics art

Double Robotics’ Double desires to get your iPad out of the house and into the workplace, or classroom, or factory floor– anywhere, truly. The $ 2,499 telepresence robot utilizes a pair of iPads: one sits in the self-balancing base, the other serves as a remote control. Double Robotics’ app will certainly let you control the robotic– rolling it about and adjusting its height– while the iPads’ front-facing cameras stream every thing the robot sees, and enable you to connect with passersby. Telepresence robots aren’t brand-new– we fulfilled iRobot’s iPad-controlled Ava prototype at CES, and Anybots has actually been selling their $ 10,000 QB robotic for years– however the Double is competitively priced with cargos set to begin in December. If you pre-order now you’ll pay …

Continue reading & hellip;

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Botiful Is The Telepresence Robot We’ve All Been Waiting For

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Author: Stefanie Jenkins

We ’ ve seen a few telepresence components in our day, featuring the amazing AnyBot, but this little person resembles it could make life at the office a little less odd and a little more bearable. It ’ s basically a little telepresence platform for your Android phone (if the developer, Claire Delaunay, nets $ 100,000 she ’ ll make an iPhone version) that strolls around and lets you chat with people in the vicinity. Think of it as a little robot canine wearing your face.

The early robot cost is $ 199. To communicate with the bot, you just call it through Skype after downloading the appropriate software. Movement controls allow you to move Botiful around the workplace, room, or under and around challenges. Delaunay encourages utilizing it to play remotely with pets and/or children and to see difficult to reach places like a crawlspace or dungeon.

Interestingly, $ 399 gets you a Botiful dinner with Claire herself. You ’ d phone call in remotely, of course, and you men could possibly chat about Botiful in Silicon Valley from the comfort of your home desk chair.

The robot will certainly can be found in red, white, and blue and she ’ s searching for $ 90,000 to tool up and start shipping. I, for one, welcome our dinner-having, small-motor-powered, Android-based overlords.

Project Web page

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iRobot, InTouch Health unveil RP-VITA telepresence robot, let doctors phone in bedside manner

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Author: Jon Daniels

In instance you missed out on the memo, there’s rather a bit more to iRobot than adorable autonomous vacuum cleaners– these days the firm works on military projects, individual electronics products and tablet-controlled telepresence robotics. Earlier this year, iRobot even retooled itself to build an emerging innovations group, announcing a collaboration with InTouch Wellness to place its AVA telepresence innovation to much better usage. Today the 2 companies are revealing the fruits of their labor– the Remote Presence Virtual + Independent Telemedicine Assistant, or RP-VITA. The project aims to integrate the best of iRobot’s AVA telepresence units with InTouch wellness’s very own bots, producing an uncomplicated to utilize system that enables doctors to look after patients by remote without stumbling over challenging modern technology.

The RP-VITA features advanced mapping and barrier detection and avoidance technology, a straightforward iPad user interface for control and interaction and the ability to interface with analysis tools and accessibility digital medical records. The remote gear will become able to navigate to specified target locations autonomously, though this attribute is still being reviewed by the FDA for clearance. iRobot and InTouch are optimistic about the unit, but claim that the RP-VITA is only the beginning. “While this represents our very first foray into the healthcare market, the RP-VITA represents a sturdy platform,” stated Colin Angle, Chairman and CEO of iRobot, “we see numerous future opportunities in adjacent markets.” The new telemedicine assistant is slated to make its first look at InTouch Wellness’s 7th Yearly Facility Innovations Online forum later on this week. Look into the press release after the break for the full information.

Continue reading iRobot, InTouch Health reveal RP-VITA telepresence robot, let doctors phone in bedside mannerFiled under:

RobotsiRobot, InTouch Wellness unveil RP-VITA telepresence robotic, let specialists phone in bedside manner appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 00:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink|| Email this|Opinions

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This Sassy Little Robot Lets Your Friends Follow You Around With Telepresence

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Author: Matthew Wilson

Although one could argue that Facetime and Skype are already nearly perfect telepresence systems, there’s definitely some value in having a jolly little robot sit on your shoulder and transmit, in real time, everything you see and hear to a friend far away. Right? Please say I’m right?

This experimental robot is called the Miniature Humanoid 2 or MH2 and was built in Japan by Yuichi Tsumaki, Fumiaki Ono, and Taisuke Tsukuda of Yamagata University in Japan. The robot requires a big honking backpack so it’s a little bit cumbersome but essentially the MH2 can move around on your shoulder as you move around the world, creating a sort of Master/Blaster relationship or, more likely, a Kuato/host human situation.

Here’s a description from the IEEE:

This may seem a little bit weird at first, but here’s the idea: you’ve got a friend or a relative that you want to share an experience with. Like, you’re traveling or something, and you want some company. Instead of having said friend come along with you (we’ll assume that they’re busy as opposed to just antisocial), you can bring along an MH-2 instead. Back home, your friend puts on a 360-degree immersive 3D display and stands in front of some sort of motion capture environment (like a Kinect, for example). Then, they get to see whatever the MH-2 sees. Meanwhile, the robot on your shoulder acts like an avatar, duplicating the speech and gestures of your friend right there for you to interact with directly.

That’s right: this thing simulates a little friend so you don’t feel so alone. Welcome to the 21st century.

via Giz via Ieee.org

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Cisco hangs up on Umi ‘Personal Telepresence’ flop

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Author: Brandon Zimmerman

A whole separate box and remote just for video chat? For as much as $ 600, plus a $ 10 per month subscription (HDTV and broadband not included)? It was always doubtful whether the Umi telepresence kit would catch on, but now Cisco has crushed those doubts by quietly crushing both the 1080p and cheaper 720p versions of the product. No press release or announcement; just a disembodied voice at the end of a technical support line advising callers that the product is “under evaluation,” and a behind-the-scenes nudge to Business Insider that it really has been discontinued. It’s not yet clear what will happen to the monthly service for existing customers, but if it gets disrupted then Cisco will surely have to come clean. Heck, for $ 600 we’d expect a personalized hi-def video apology.

Cisco hangs up on Umi ‘Personal Telepresence’ flop originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posts Tagged ‘Telepresence’

iRobot And Cisco Build A Roving Telepresence Rig So Remote Workers Can Still Roam The Office

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iRobot teams up with Cisco for Ava 500 telepresence robot

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Revolve Robotics Announces Kubi, A Telepresence Rig That Works Like Your Neck

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iRobot’s RP-VITA mobile telepresence robot iPad app eyes-on (video)

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Hardware Alley At Disrupt — From Tele-Presence Robots To Golf Swing Sensors

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Double Robotics’ telepresence robot gives your iPad legs

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Botiful Is The Telepresence Robot We’ve All Been Waiting For

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iRobot, InTouch Health unveil RP-VITA telepresence robot, let doctors phone in bedside manner

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This Sassy Little Robot Lets Your Friends Follow You Around With Telepresence

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Cisco hangs up on Umi ‘Personal Telepresence’ flop

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