

The folks over at Anybots have a telepresence robot that's impressive inside and out. Called QA, the 'bot has an attractively slim Apple-white exterior with big 'n' soft blue eyes, and its functionality doesn't suffer for its good looks. It can cruise along on its wheels at up to six miles per hour and, if anything tries to knock it over, it can quickly right itself as it glides along.
Just to prove the QA wasn't messing around, the Anybots rep gave it a hard shove to the chest. QA rolled backwards, gained control of itself and then returned to where it was originally — all as smooth as silk.
Telepresence is handled by a screen showing who is talking and speakers so the recipient can hear them. The robot's user, meanwhile, is on a laptop anywhere in the world where there is Internet, talking through a headset and guiding the agile 'bot around through its controls.
All said, it's the best telepresence robot we've seen. It's the right height, maneuverable and — perhaps most importantly — we wouldn't be embarrassed to have the QA represent us in our stead. Anybots hopes to make the QA commercially available for corporate interests in the near future for around $30,000. Check out the gallery below for more of the Anybots QA.
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Via Anybots
By Lexomatic at 11:16 AM ON 01/09/09
So it's like the WowWee Rovio, but at human eye-level instead of a cat's. I wondered when someone would mount an android on a Segway-like mobility base. If the chest-image is static, then the telepresence is only halfway -- the teleoperator can see faces, but those in QA's vicinity get emotional feedback only by audio. The lenses in its neck (camera, rangefinder, face detection?) are a bit offputting, like tracheotomy scars. QA or its ilk could be used to multiply a single human customer rep across multiple low-traffic sites, a sort of 'time-sliced teleported just-in-time chat-at-your-elbow' thing.
Lexomatic:
So it's like the WowWee Rovio, but at human eye-level instead of a cat's. I wondered when someone would mount an a...More »