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Saturday, August 12, 2017

Telepresence Robots

These robots should be called 'minimal presence portable robotics',  we looked at them to test the idea of having someone who was very remote introduced to a team in a unique way.   They have lots of problems.  We discovered most of these in our tests.  The article is quite good and complete, covering several devices, and exposing many of their issues.

In particular that the remote person has to be trained on the device and wastes most of their time just navigating and engaging.  And people don't engage well with them, end up just hiding.  Unless there is a very clear need to move about, like oberserving some detailed experience,  like a store layout, you are better off just having a stationary video camera somewhere.   This might seem like a cute idea, but test carefully before you buy a fleet.

The Best Telepresence Robot
After spending 20 hours researching telepresence robots and testing two of the most promising models in office and home settings, we don’t think these devices are ready for prime time. But if you want a telepresence robot to give remote employees a physical presence in your office, the Suitable Technologies Beam Enhanced is the only bot that’s reliable and user-friendly enough to consider. .... " 

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