AnyBots is a company that is building an innovative remote controlled robot which serves as a personal avatar. Yes, that’s right, just like the movie Avatar an operator remote controls this robot and it allows you to virtually be present in another location.
The applications for this technology are endless, but imagine a large company with multiple locations having a few AnyBots that people can “check out” and use to attend meetings with colleagues. The theory is that this is more inviting than simple video conferencing.
I attended AnyBots’ recent launch party while in Silicon Valley (Cali Lewis demanded it because she loves robots :-), and spent some time discussing this revolutionary new robot with AnyBots’ CEO Dr. Trevor Blackwell. Here’s what happened:
I also snapped a few photos while I was at the party, all of which are available in full resolution on Flickr, but here is the embedded slideshow.
Any AnyBot will set you back a cool $15,000, and you remote control it via a simple Web interface and your keyboard. So the question is, do you want one? And more importantly, what the heck would you do with it if you had it?
What is up with it getting up in your grill? and why didn’t it have a vid feed on the screen so you could see the guy you were talking to? It was as if they wanted to creep you out.
Well Mark, I’m not sure if it was accidental or if Robert just has a funny sense of humor. In person it was actually pretty funny and it made the interview more interesting. Though in reality they might have been having some challenges with the gyro on the robot, or the wifi signal might have had some interference, or who knows what…
Remember that these robots are not quite ready for production so they are still working the kinks out. And by the time they start shipping they are supposed to have 2 way video so you can see the person you are talking to live.
Cheers,
John P.