Then
and
NOW
Robot Telepresence and
Personal Assistants
by Tom Carroll
Back in 2006, I wrote a few
columns about how robots
lived with humans and how
they cared for people. No
matter how many AUV robots
we might see patrolling our
roads and skies, the most
interesting robots to most of us
are those that work amongst
us. Large corporations,
universities, and 'think tanks'
like Willow Garage are furiously
developing autonomous robots
for the home environment. In
the seven years since I
researched those articles, there
have been some amazing
machines developed that have
taken their place beside us
humans. Every lab and
company in this field is striving
to design and build that next
perfect home companion robot.
74 SERVO 02.2013
Bill Gates will probably never be
on everyone’s ‘favorites’ list, but his
comments and quotes always
generate interest within the technical
community. I personally feel that he is
right far more than he is wrong —
especially concerning robotics.
A quote of Gates was included in
Tom Friedman’s 2005 book, The
World is Flat: “There are one hundred
universities making contributions to
robotics. And each one is saying that
the other is doing it all wrong, or my
piece actually fits together with
theirs.”
I remember this comment from
back then, and it has intrigued me
ever since. Intense competition is
always present within companies, but
it seems even more so in robot
development.
Just as television technology has
progressed from crude black and
white CRT sets, to color, to digital,
and now to side-lit LED LCD flat
screens, robots are also making major
leaps in technology. Personal and
service robot research and
development certainly has been fierce,
but the goals of robot developers are
far more than just bringing forth that
one killer app.
Robotics is much too complex to
have one particular invention or
design become the key that
revolutionizes the field. It will take
universities and other researchers
working together with industry to
deliver a true personal home
companion robot, with each
contributing their own piece of the
puzzle for the good of the industry.
Telepresence Robots
I would like to begin our
discussion of robots working around
people with a look at some of the
latest telepresence robots.
Telepresence or (as some like to say)
remote presence has actually been
with us a long time as a camera atop
a computer using software such as
Skype. Teleconferencing has been
used for commercial applications even
longer. The addition of a mobile base
and a wireless interconnection should
make this type of two-way TV robot
FIGURE 1.
InTouch
Health RP- 7
robot.
