Arrington Gets an Anybot

Need more data to know, but considering it as a technical problem instead of a social one... maybe he didn't realize it was annoying because he couldn't pick up all the little facial expression and body language messages they were giving to indicate it.

This interpretation is not supported by him pointing a laser near other people's eyes. That was just being an ass. But sticking with the technical side here... a larger field of view might help the driver get those messages. Combining that with some face tracking and magnifying in the driving software would be cool. Or give everyone around a little remote and buttons on the bot for communicating negative feedback anonymously; give an indicator in the diver software, or reduce the mobility of the robot for a minute, or administer electrical shocks to the driver, those sorts of things.

robobenjie4• 16 years ago

That is something we worry about. There seems to be a little bit of a disconnect at first, like interactions that happen in a computer screen are somehow less real than face to face ones. The hope is that bumping in to people with a robot is sort of like making faces in a teleconference: it's maybe something you do when you are first trying it out, but once you start using it for actual work you stop.

I know that we have certainly moved past that here using them (we use them to keep in communication with our manufacturer). Hopefully having 2 way video + the fact that the robots will be used almost exclusively in business settings will help us avoid the Penny Arcade Internet Fuckwad Theory http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/3/19/

nostromo2• 16 years ago

... or maybe Arrington is always that annoying in the office. ;-)

fjabre• 16 years ago

I didn't find it annoying or awkward at all. I actually thought it was funny. If I was playing with one for the first time I'd probably do the same thing. What's the point of building this tech if you can't have some fun with it?

You could debate the usefulness of it. It seems like it'd have plenty of interesting applications in business and security..

troygoode• 16 years ago

First thing I thought about after reading this was the robot waiter in Rocky IV.

While this is certainly very cool (and I would totally buy one just to play with if money was no object), I'm rather skeptical about how many of these things they're going to manage to sell - $15k is pretty steep for iChat on wheels.

MichaelApproved2• 16 years ago

Don't forget the green laser pointer.

I agree that this is way too expensive. I bet, just like the Segway, a lot of the money goes to keeping it on two wheels when a 4 wheel device would do just fine. I'd like to hear the economical justification that a company uses to buy this.

veemjeem2• 16 years ago

I don't think it's that expensive -- seems like it would be pretty useful in a warehouse to check up on things. Still cheaper than flying an engineer in San Fran to the UPS warehouse in Kentucky.

I think people are assuming it will be used in the way Arrington used it -- remote presence. It's more useful as a way to survey places that you normally don't want to hang around in due to danger or noise, such as noisy server rooms, giant inventory/shipping warehouses, buildings that are in the middle of construction, outsourced manufacturing facilities in china, chemical plants, water/sewage sanitation facilities, chip manufacturing clean rooms, etc.

When my dad worked for Monsanto, he had to drive 60 miles out of his way to the chemical plant just to look at pipes, knobs, and dials to ensure that the manufacturing process was properly replicated -- that would seem like a perfect fit.

iamelgringo• 16 years ago

Cisco's telepresence system is $300k for a full room, and $50k for a 56" screen. Skype on the bottom end of the stack is free. I'd say that $15k for a robotic telepresence system is really, really cheap.

hxr• 16 years ago

Very cool! My wishlist:

1. 360 degree camera (so I can walk in any direction without turning around) 2. 3D vision (in the operator interface!) 3. Wings, jet pack 4. Multiple lasers 5. Vuvezula

borism• 16 years ago

+1 for vuvuzela. Frankly that's the only output port it needs.

hussong• 16 years ago

1. would also allow you to strafe...

tudorachim2• 16 years ago

That's some pretty pathetic collision avoidance, given that the website advertises "Its built-in guidance system takes care of the rest by avoiding furniture & people..."

palish• 16 years ago

Really? It experienced the worst-case scenario -- running directly into something at full speed -- and came away completely unharmed. "Rock solid" would be how I'd describe it.

It would be very tough to implement "collision avoidance" without being overbearing on what the user can or cannot do. For example, it would be extremely annoying if the robot's collision avoidance made it actively try to stay away from walls "because the user could potentially make a sudden turn at full speed towards the wall, and then a collision could result, so therefore we should try to avoid that scenario because, damn it, we promised collision avoidance!".

The net effect would be that the user might have a very good reason for wanting to drive close to a wall, but can't because of artificial limits imposed by the software.

It's better to not waste time on those kinds of 'features' and instead focus on making the core experience better. In this case, focusing on the two-way video and reducing chat lag time.

Incidentally, those kinds of 'features' seem like exactly the kind of thing that a mature company would focus on (waste time on) and lose sight of making the actual product better, because it combines so many things that mature companies would like -- delivering on promises to the user, it sounds good on paper, etc. But it loses sight of the fact that the goal is to make the end product better, not to deliver a laundry list of things.

pavs• 16 years ago

Why does the collision avoidance has to be a hard limit? Allow it to be toggled on and off at will by the operator and it solves all problems you mentioned.

Collision off on cramped places with furniture.

Collision on when too many moving object (people walking around).

greenlblue• 16 years ago

The title should say Arrington becomes an Anybot.

krav• 16 years ago

ROFL

dasil003• 16 years ago

How about Arrington becomes an Annoybot?

danbmil99• 16 years ago

nice work

marknutter• 16 years ago

Wow. Absolutely incredible. How annoying Arrington is, I mean. The robot's pretty neat too.

robryan• 16 years ago

Very cool, I guess the next step would be to give it a decent sized screen for 2 way communication.

uuilly• 16 years ago

A far as telepresence for Chinese / Indian factories goes, wouldn't it be cheaper / less awkward to hire a guy to walk around w/a laptop running iChat / google voice-vid? Labor in those countries is practically free.

mgkimsal• 16 years ago

I'm reminded of the robots from Suspended (Infocom game). We'll have some anybot robots that tuned for audio, some for video, some for ... what were the others?

talonx• 16 years ago

That looks a lot like Daniel Graystone's household robot (in Caprica)

ra88it2• 16 years ago

"...$15,000 per unit. That may sound a little steep, but keep in mind that the robot can be used by multiple people, though only one can be logged in at a time."

What does that even mean?

flannell2• 16 years ago

I think they mean you can't have two or more people trying to control the bot at the same time.

ra88it2• 16 years ago

Yes, but then why does he say 'keep in mind that the robot can be used by multiple people'. Is this any different than, say, two people sharing a pencil?

flannell2• 16 years ago

I would love to get a couple and race them around the office. Friday afternoons just got more interesting!

jroes• 16 years ago

You should be able to drive it to a power outlet or docking station for charging. Or maybe it should drive there itself?

robobenjie4• 16 years ago

It has one. Autodocking isn't finished yet, but on the work queue. You can see the dock in the background of the video (it's the white C shaped thing sitting on the ground)

Arrington Gets an Anybot

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