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Robotic Presence For a Telecommuter
McGregorMortis writes "Ivan lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and telecommutes to work in Waterloo, Ontario. But in meetings, speaker-phones suck: can't hear everybody, can't move around, no visual contact. So Ivan made an IvanAnywhere robot to give him a physical presence in the office. If Ivan wants to talk to a coworker, he just steers radio-controlled IvanAnywhere into that person's office for a chat."
This is awesome, the possibilities that could open up for telecommuters is incredible. I can see a feasible market for this where telecommuters are assigned a robot as their virtual presence at work so that they feel more a part of the company than an outsourced employee.
The best way I've seen it done is with a big screen, it looks like the two rooms are joined in the middle when it's running.
Deleted
1 - Steer it around the office all day long, shouting "Kill all humans! Kill all humans!"
Anyone else some suggestions?
If everyone is going to have one of those robots, why not have virtual robots? In other words, an avatar in a virtual environment. That's precicely what I am involved in at the moment; we're experimenting with virtual conferences in (please don't laugh) Second Life. Our initial take on it is that virtual meetings are not as good as actually being there, but they are a damn sight better than teleconferencing (which sits way down on the list somewhere between getting a root canal treatment, and dropping a kitchen knife on your bare foot pointy side down). They also give much more of a sense of "presence" than videoconferencing. Plus, they allow for teambuilding events as well.
Sadly my suggestion for renting a virtual meeting room in Sauron's tower (in Lord of the Rings Online) was voted down. Oh well...
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Does it hang out in the mens room? Actually, I've had meetings in there. They're short and don't involve a lot of paperwork. And no bloody Powerpoint.
Well maybe, but next time, please lock the door before you begin your "meeting". And perhaps you could use a bit more "paperwork" to clean up afterwards. The rest of us don't want to think about your "Powerpoint", bloody or otherwise...
I suggest that he works from home and just uses a robot, possibly fitted with a 9mm pistol, to communicate with his office workers. This could spawn a whole new generation of FPSs.
We did already try using an AIBO and putting it on the table in our conference room, it was rather amusing, and also worked well (they have a speaker, camera and Wi-Fi built in, so you can control it and talk through it, was pretty cool). Shame that one of the managers just left it lying on its charger for 2 years and knackered the battery.. he should have just given it to me to take home!
which is totally what she said
For a company where all employees (or just a majority) telecommute, this robot is pointless - for the reasons you stated. A virtual world makes more sense - or simply videoconferencing. This is good for one or two telecommuters and a bunch of people at the office. It makes a lot of sense for that.
Your excuse for steering the robot around? Sure the robot doesn't drink water - but your co-workers do, and you need to interact with them to do your job effectively. You don't drive your robot around to tell a joke any more than you walk across the building to tell a joke. but if a joke comes to mind, and he just happens to be walking by.... Conversations that wouldn't have otherwise happened occur, and important stuff gets said.
"What he's doing there is nothing more than adding a robot to move the camera and screen around. It's solving a problem we had already solved, and adding an unnecessary layer to it.
Only, you see, videoconferencing didn't work well enough, and allowing the camera and screen to move, that worked better. A cheap webcam at every PC? And the lunchroom, and the hallway, and the conference room, with screens to match? The robot is cheaper, less invasive of privacy, and works better.
What (else) does the robot add? instead of calling you and instantly getting your #@$% voicemail, I can go find you and chat with Joe along the way, which I would never have done otherwise. Maybe Joe then tells me something important too, or I can help him.
It almost sounds to me like the reason you see no use for this robot, is because you see no use for talking to your co-workers without an issue to discuss. You aren't the manager by chance are you?
T
Laws are horrible moral guides, moral guides make even worse laws.
Just out of interest, what do you have to say about people spending half their work day writing essays on slashdot?