As readers of my blog know, I'm a big fan of flexible work arrangements , virtual presentations, and telepresence.
One limitation of all these approaches is that you lose the "over the cubicle effect" - the ability to wander around the office and chat with your colleagues.
The Texai robot is an attempt to merge teleconferencing with mobility and it's under development at Willow Garage . I encourage you to watch this video demonstration.
The project began as a solution to a problem. Two Willow Garage engineers, Dallas Goecker and Curt Meyers, working 2000 miles apart, needed a more efficient method of interacting and collaborating throughout the day. Skype and conference calls hindered the casual conversations more representative of day-to-day, in-person interactions around the office. Seeking a better solution, Dallas and Curt applied their knowledge of building battle bots and the PR2 to create Texai.
A teleconferencing solution that enables you to wander from meeting to meeting and cubicle to cubicle without having to worry about Skype, Webex, or ISDN lines. That's cool!
You might be interested in this blog post from a remote Microsoft employee that created a similar sort of remote presence cart: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/BuildingAnEmbodiedSocialProxyOrCrazyWebcamRemoteCartThing.aspx
ReplyDeleteHow about using this approach for telepresence of clinical specialist (e.g. ICU physicians), that would otherwise not be available?
ReplyDeleteJohn.......Sorry to be a little off subject but you may enjoy an article about Kyoto by Pico Iyer in the current (June 2010) Smithsonian magazine.
ReplyDeleteI particularly enjoy your Thursday entries about life since my dermatology practice is relatively
low tech.
bruce
Thanks for your enthusiasm - we are working hard to bring this to life. If you aare interested in learning more, send an email to texai-bizdev@willowgarage.com
ReplyDelete