dreamdancer 0 #1 January 1, 2011 interesting QuoteWhy drag yourself to work through rush-hour traffic when you can stay at home and send a remote-controlled robot instead? Firms in the US and Japan are already selling robot avatars that allow office workers to be in two places at once. So 2011 could be the year when many of us find ourselves sitting across the desk from an electronic colleague. Californian company Willow Garage is developing a so-called telepresence robot called Texai, while Anybots, also in California, recently launched the QB office bot. The QB, which looks like a small Segway vehicle with a robot head on top, can travel at 6 kilometres per hour, using a laser scanner to avoid books and other office clutter. It can be controlled via a web browser from anywhere in the world and has camera eyes to allow you to navigate your robot's surroundings and see who you are talking to. A small LCD screen on the head means your colleagues can see you too. You could argue that if you were planning to talk to people in other offices you could just use a videoconferencing system rather than a $15,000 robot. But logging into a robot body allows people to move around in a relatively normal way, says Trevor Blackwell of Anybots. "If you have a bunch of people who are all used to talking to each other wherever they want to, it is a bit of an imposition to say, 'OK, from now on all conversations have to be in the videoconferencing room'." http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827924.200-2011-preview-enter-the-robot-self.htmlstay away from moving propellers - they bite blue skies from thai sky adventures good solid response-provoking keyboarding Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
popsjumper 2 #2 January 2, 2011 Well, it's a viable option to get away from the bozo in the next cubicle that farts all the time.My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
