Slashdot Mirror
Cisco and iRobot Create Sheldonbot-Like Telepresence System
sweetpea86 writes "Cisco has teamed up with robotics firm iRobot to create their own enterprise version of the 'Sheldonbot' from US comedy series The Big Bang Theory. The robot, known as Ava 500, brings together iRobot's autonomous navigation with Cisco's TelePresence system to enable a remote worker sitting in front of a video collaboration system to meet with colleagues in an office setting or take part in a facility tour."
It's like 9gag in full tilt, minus the images.
When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
The robot, known as Ava 500, brings together iRobot's autonomous navigation with Cisco's TelePresence system to enable a remote worker sitting in front of a video collaboration system to meet with colleagues in an office setting or take part in a facility tour."
You could take a facility tour or do a video conference with someone holding a smartphone for a LOT less money.
There are excellent uses for telerobotic systems. This is not one of them. This is a solution looking for a problem.
Ahh... I'm not sure I see the benefit, physical interactivity is still at a minimum, and cost would be higher. What will this do for a meeting that a regular video conference can't? Shake hands -? A tour can be done with a wireless webcam.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
It needs a robot arm. So that I can buy my Mountain Dew and Hot Pockets at the grocery store without ever leaving my house.
sudo make me a sandwich
Didn't Wally do this in Dilbert a while back?
Sounds like an idea which most people will wonder why they're doing it.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
So, while I'm trying to talk to the person on the other end of the robot, it will be either picking a random direction to go, spinning in ever widening circles, or running into a wall?
Sheldonbot is a Texai Remote Presence System from Willow Garage, so recreating Sheldonbot is just copying some other company's product.
I thought it was Shelbot, not Sheldonbot!
I have a Scooba (Roomba for mopping). If its ability to navigate is an example of the "Autonomous Navigation" described in the summary...well, it's not particularly reassuring about the future of telepresence.
Take it to the limit, everybody to the limit, come on, everybody fhqwhgads.
Trendsetting even at home.
I wonder if Cisco's costs less than $15,000... hahaha, who am I kidding? It's probably 100k easy.
... that way I can hire somebody from India to clean my house, mow the yard, do dishes, and laundry remotely over the internet. At an estimated 70K for this one, I don't think that's going to work out for me anytime soon.
...if I used one at work, no one would notice (until something broke).
Your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
If you can't find a use for this, I suggest you try a bit harder. In my humble opinion, these are awesome. But you probably want one that you can develop for yourself, and add external devices such as cameras or other sensors. Here's one example of a mobile video conference unit that has found good use in health care. http://www.giraff.org/?lang=en
Oh lord, I can hear it now. "They don't even have to immigrate anymore to take our jobs!"
Everything is better with chainsaws.
They're billing this as a shared resource. You're still going to need someone to change the t-shirt.
There have been quite a few of these things. MantaRobot, Vgo, Anybot, and Texai/Suitable, all have commercial, mobile, telepresence robots available now. They all shove a videophone in someone's face.
Vgo probably has the best use case. They sell it to medical facilities, so doctors don't have to move around as much. This is an indication of the market. Telepresence only works if the person operating the device is someone the listeners have to suck up to.
This would be a great tool. When I worked onsite and needed a key person's time, I followed the time honored tradition of camping out in their cube until my questions were answered. Working offsite I just get their voice mail. If I could jump into one of these, I could corner people the same way.
Wasn't this in demolition man? I vaguely recall wesley snipes destroying a bunch of robots with human faces having a meeting.
1. immediately proceed to the bathroom, become known as "that bathroom robot that slowly sings 'bad romance' by lady gaga all day long"
2. have conversation with boss in which you slowly inch further away from her until you're nearly down the hallway.
3. only one speed: bat-out-of-hell fast. insist a racing stripe, cubicle nametag change to 'the crimson terror'
4. stand near vending machines, stare forcefully into coworkers eyes.
5. "Leave" work at the end of the day, exit parking lot, local intersection, merge onto freeway.
4. attend meetings, take your place at the table, begin slowly rotating around and around. do not stop until the meeting ends.
3. telepresence camera can and will be pointed at anything. this becomes a known fact as your attendance on tuedays is now referred to as 'that electric bellybutton on wheels'
2. once per day, fly out the door, race through the parking lot and directly into the quarter panel of the most expensive car you find. insist this is a bug.
1. show up to work, insist the use of the telepresence robot during all interaction. refuse any requests that do not utilize it.
Good people go to bed earlier.
They made a movie about this...
Marissa needs to get one of these for checking up on all those staff that aren't allowed telework.
Bazongas...
"Cisco hasn't done anything innovative for a long time"
Because a person carrying around a phones time is free.
I can pay someone to carry around a phone for a LOOOOONG time before I could justify paying for a robot to do the same thing. The accounting is pretty easy here. Multi-thousand dollar robot + service staff or cheap intern + smartphone. Not exactly a tough call to make if you care about not wasting money.
It needs a robot arm. So that I can buy my Mountain Dew and Hot Pockets at the grocery store without ever leaving my house.
There is a neat invention for that that already exists. It's called a friend. Try one out sometime.
(I kid, I kid...)
If you combined it with Oculus Rift that could potentially save a lot of travel time.
This is great, it will be good for about 3 months then the battery won't hold a charge. :-) Just like my two useless Roombas.
Now my inner voice when reading slashdot posts is Sheldon.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
We are getting closer to having our own Turrets from Portal?
Because I can totally live with my own version of Sheldonbot.
Cisco has teamed up with robotics firm iRobot to create their own enterprise version of the 'Sheldonbot' from US comedy series The Big Bang Theory.
Presence-bots were around long before Big Bang Theory made them hilarious. This just looks like a fancier version of the same with smoother curves and all the wires on the inside.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
...about stairs and elevators shafts?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
It's a sitcom for people who enjoy laughing at stereotypes presented in that show.
It's like a show about Asian people where the punchline is "those crazy Asians - they're so funny when they're all Asian and stuff".
Or a show about black people where the punchline is "them crazy niggers - they're so funny when they're black and stuff".
Or a show about women where the punchline is "those crazy cunts - they're so funny when they're all cunty and stuff".
Cases above were inspired by a colleague's review of "Will & Grace".
It went something like "Do you watch Will and Grace? Those homos are so funny".
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
1. Therefore it's here, b0t what is
Thought this might have something to do with a Sheldon Plan, disappointed.
fine, give it a whole bunch of red currants.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I am pretty sure that Penny dubbed Sheldon's telepresence "Shelbot", as in in "What up Shelbot?" Something like that anyway.
First of all, full disclosure. I am a Cisco Systems Telepresence Engineer and think this technology is to be blunt, incredibly awesome. That being said what I am about to say may be a bit sided. I can imagine lots of uses for this thing. Advanced versions could have robotic arms that enables a specialist Dr from anywhere in the world to Telejump from one side of the world to perform a life saving operation. A bomb tech could mess up more than once, (sorry I know their are already better devices for this, just needed some humor). A person could do a house tour from anywhere in the world remotely (assuming the house doesn't have stairs this bot can do a bit of stair nav, perhaps a real-estate version. One plant inspector could inspect multiple plants (chemical gas etc) without flying to remote locations. Highly advanced versions could allow a key resource to work multiple job sites and engage (or even this version) in planning and interactive meetings from a corporate location.
Military families could "Telejump" home to read their kids a night time story, (people on ships submarines, or anywhere with a decent connection) (when the cost comes down). Imagine a smaller home model you could log into and use to check up on your "pet" and make sure you turned off the gas stove before you went to work, and imagine a robotic arm attached that would enable you to do it with relative ease from a smart phone. Now imagine you have no legs and can't reach things high up and you have no one to help you. This could literally be the difference between living alone and feeling self sufficient or being stuck in a home. Even if it means a remote friend could check up on you (hospice or some other). Imagine being able to get one of these for your parents so the next time they ask you a computer problem you can telejump over to their house a thousand miles away and explain to them that the reason their laptop isn't working might have something to do with the power cable being unplugged and the batteries being drained. I can think of infinite uses for one of these things, just has to start with the big companies with the vision and the need (and of course the capitol). As technologies improve who knows what these could do.
And finally,
I'm sure the military has already specked these robots for weapons and aligned the TP cameras to gun sites, thus,
We can remotely fight the coming zombie apocalypse, and don't forget Dalaks, never forget those silly Dalaks. :)
It may have a character jump over a shark, would that do?
Nope.
You kinda missed the point there. It's called a stunt.
You know... basing the episode around an act intended to catch you attention instead of on actual story or plot. Or humor.
Occam says A in this case.
Actually, Occam says it's what I mentioned above - cherry picking. Also, confirmation bias.
I'm gonna make a wild guess and assume that your "the people I know IRL who don't think it's funny and don't like it are all uneducated high school dropouts" is a rather limited set.
Also, that you did no actual statistical analysis on the subject NOR actual inquiry into WHY those and other people find it not funny.
In other words, all your "conclusions" are actually based on time honored theory of "I like this, this is great, those who don't like it are stupid".
On the other hand, there are vast numbers of sources pointing out that many of people who don't find TBBT funny or likeable ARE quite intelligent and that they get the intended joke - only they find it not funny at best and cringe worthy at other times.
http://bigbangmistakes.tumblr.com/whydoesitsuck
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9112031
http://www.spectrecollie.com/archives/2013/01/my-problem-with-the-big-bang-theory
http://butmyopinionisright.tumblr.com/post/31079561065/the-problem-with-the-big-bang-theory
BTW, have you noticed just how much of it's humor is based on a) pop culture references, b) catch phrases and c) laugh track?
Neither of which is humor.
One is basic recognition (which presses some of the same buttons in your brain as "getting a joke") and the other two are borderline Pavlovian prods to try to incite laughter.
"LAUGH MONKEY BOY! LAUGH! BEJEZUZ! ZIMBABWE! BLOOBLOOBLUBLU! LISTEN TO THESE PEOPLE LAUGHING! IT IS SOOOO FUNNY! LAAAAUGH!"
While we're on the subject of pop culture references...
American Dad and Family Guy for instance do A LOT of the "pop culture instead of humor" thing.
Basically, all of its humor is in those bits that have no connection to the story otherwise.
Not sure about the older episodes but relatively recent seasons of The Simpsons are doing the same thing.
Except instead of cutting away to completely unrelated characters it's one of the usual clowns (Homer, Wiggum Sr. or Jr. etc.) that does the "IT'S FUNNY! LAUGH!" bit.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens