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from the never-leaving-our-house-again dept.
This fascinating article tells us what it's like to inhabit a telepresence robot at a busy convention, both positive and negative.
I logged into my telepresence unit and discovered myself in a small booth filled with technicians. A gentleman was there who asked me some questions. Who was I? Did I know how to use the software? Was I logged in to the Skype chat, and did I need any help?
After a brief orientation, I left my charging platform and trundled out into the world. I moved cautiously at first – I needed to get my bearings – but was soon on my way. A few turns and I found the Micron booth. This is a great start; I have friends there.
The Micron folks are great people and all of my nervousness about this new mode of interaction faded away as I talked to them. There was some oohing and aahing about the novelty of the telepresence unit, but after a few seconds the robot, the UI, my computer screen... it all just disappeared. I was there, talking to my friends, and it felt as real to me as being there in person.
Later:
Watching her navigate between people I began to notice a distinct difference in how she was treated versus how I was treated. When Phoummala wanted to go somewhere she simply went there. People got out of her way. When I wanted to go somewhere, people did not move to let me through.
People rarely deliberately stepped in front of Phoummala. If they saw she was headed in a given direction, they'd generally let her pass before continuing on. The opposite was true of me; as a telepresence unit, they expected that I would stop to let them pass. I wasn't human, you see, so it was perfectly OK to throw one's self into my path and expect me to react in time.
As this technology is used more often, will we treat the 'bots as we would the humans riding them?
[Editor's note: This link is at the bottom of the article and I believe is the unit they were using]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Monday December 12 2016, @07:37PM
If you use a telepresence unit, you don't understand the point of conventions.
You might as well save the cash, browse the websites and call people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 12 2016, @08:15PM
Those are all fine points, but what if someone can not travel? What if they only have one day open but would still like to see some of the con, meet some people?
There are plenty of reasons someone would want to use such a unit, though I think this article was more of a test case on how it would work out. As we see, it would be frustrating until people get used to the units and stop messing with them so much.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 12 2016, @08:28PM
The leading reason among telepresence users: being Ed Snowden.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 12 2016, @08:26PM
The telepresence bots could also be used for scientific conferences. Lots of money and time get spent on travel, and travel can be a big hurdle for those with disabilities. As the bots become more available and easier to operate, they might become a real fixture.
(Score: 3, Funny) by VLM on Monday December 12 2016, @08:59PM
travel can be a big hurdle for those with disabilities
Speaking of that... in the first world there's likely someone in a powered wheelchair unemployed and looking for work, and it would seem the guidance system and latency of a local biological neural network would perform well, and the chair is likely battle proven along with its owner... I'm just thinking out loud that developing software and hardware to make sure disabled people never get a job seems kinda jerk-ish.
Why not just stick the camera and laptop on a disabled dude in a wheelchair? Gives a guy a job, don't need to waste time developing motion control algos and hardware...
Now I was suggesting disabled dude because of battery power but hiring a homeless dude to wear an ipad on a chain around his neck is quite achievable. Doesn't even have to be homeless, could be starving student or just bored part timer. I got nothing happening this saturday maybe I'll put on a suit and tie (or mime costume?) and hang my kids ipad around my neck and head down to the national plumbing and toilet manufacturers industry show, ear some bucks while getting some indoor hiking exercise, win win for all.
My past experience with cons is its like going back to high school where what you wear is suddenly super important for the first time since senior year and you'll get into these conversations like "oh I see where you work". Then there's drinking which is fun. And hot con sex with the groupies, my fans get pretty excited about how large my SN karma is.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday December 12 2016, @09:49PM
For the plumber's con, are you better off putting your iPad above your butt crack, or hire a Vegas girl to hold it an inch above her cleavage? One gives you more street cred, the other one more contacts.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 12 2016, @10:45PM
Either gets you lots of pipe.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Monday December 12 2016, @09:18PM
It used to be that conferences and conventions were the sort of thing where your company or organization would usually *want* a real person there to represent them. It's not always just about you collecting information, or you getting to know presenters, it can be about THEM getting to know YOU. If you are lucky you might even have a chance to meet with the bigwigs and shake their hand. Good luck doing that from behind a screen.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday December 12 2016, @09:26PM
Depends on who you are. If you are nobody, like most of us, then, sure, being physically present is an advantage over faces on flatscreens and wheels.
If the Dalai Lama decided to attend a conference (any conference, but I'm thinking specifically of when he came to Neuroscience in 2005), he could do it by robot telepresence, save millions in security costs, days of personal travel, and still draw huge crowds.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday December 12 2016, @09:20PM
As cameras and screens get cheaper, I find myself wondering why we don't have more "standard" telecon portals.
At a scientific conference I could imagine every single poster presentation being accompanied by a HD telecon screen, a couple of cameras (one for face-to-face, another looking at the poster), and some kind of workable audio solution - poster floors can get pretty loud, I'm thinking headphones and microphone might be the practical way to go there.
Multiple people could show up on each telecon screen simultaneously, they could screen share papers of their own, and the whole remote crowd could augment the ones who are physically present.
Turning it the other way around, post-docs who are travel averse could give their presentations from their labs, presenting to both conference attendees and remote attendees simultaneously.
If you just get some intelligent sound engineering to mute the jerks who leave their mic open where you can hear everything going on in their house, it might work.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday December 12 2016, @09:08PM
Yes, and no.
Yes, rolling a camera around and showing your face on the screen is NOT the same as being there. The experience will be reduced, and there's definitely less fun for a robot to have after show hours in Vegas.
No on so many points:
Robotic telepresence will be (if it isn't already) much less expensive than physical transportation of the sack of lipids and water you call your body.
Websites do not always encode everything, are not always up to date, will not tell you about things that can't get past legal, and do not give you an industry-wide perspective.
Calling people requires 1 on 1 time. It can be valuable, but the many to many model of convention interaction has different value to it.
I shudder at the thought, but something "Second Life Like" might eventually capture much of the value of conventions. It still has the drawback of needing everything coded into it like a website, but it would have the many to many communication model, the chance meetings, the grouping by interest. It just needs another couple of decades of serious development to make the experience flow more life-like, and also for the people operating avatars to get past the goofy stage.
🌻🌻 [google.com]