Telepresence robot are not really what my research is about, I’m more interested in autonomous robots.  However, these examples cause me to question ideas about the best way to embody someone’s presence through a robot.  Recently the AnyBots QB was in the news, and it’s pretty odd looking if you ask me:

The idea is that this robot can not only provide a presence in meeting rooms, as is the case with existing teleconference facilities, but will also allow the operator to continue to talk to colleagues as they move back into the office after the meeting.  It also allows people to be more involved in the office even when working from a distance, for example being able to look at prototypes or help with specific problems, anything that requires them to be present in a particular physical space.

According to the IEEE Spectrum report the robot includes “a laser pointer that shoots green light from one of its eyes”.  One can only hope that this truly is only used to highlight items in a presentation, as opposed to taking over the office by deadly force!  In any case, this robot’s eyes don’t seem to add much to its character, although Wired argues that they give the QB an “aesthetic similar to Pixar’s Wall-E”.

So, my real question though is whether the head-like section of this robot really adds anything in terms of useful, or desirable, embodiment.  This robot definitely reminds me of something, and I’m pretty sure it’s not a great memory.  From my perspective I still think it makes more sense simply to mount a screen in a similar way, as seen is this telepresence robot from Willow Garage, the Texai:

Then again, if you want something more aesthetically pleasing than this, but still without a somewhat creepy robot head, how about the VGo.

AnyBots QB in Wired Magazine and in IEEE Spectrum.