Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Porta-Person Remote Conferencing Stand-In
The porta-person may be part of the answer for people who spend a lot of time working remotely. The porta-person is Sun Microsystem's response to the problem of helping people who telecommute or who must attend meetings from a different location.
(Porta-Person teleconferencing technology)
The porta-person prototype is essentially a box that can "sit" at your place at a conference table. If you have a video link, your picture can appear on its screen. If you don't have enough bandwidth to present your own face, the porta-person can show a cartoon face. As you speak, the lips of the cartoon character synch with your own.
Microphones and state-of-the-art audio systems let the remote participant hear the general direction from which sounds come. The porta-person can also be swiveled to face a particular person, or part of the room. The remote participant can view a selection of images showing conference attendees as well as presentations.
"We are trying to give those remote people a real tangible presence in the meeting room," says Nicole Yankelovich, a principal investigator at Sun who led development of the porta-person as an as-yet-unpublished outgrowth of the company's collaborative-environments research. Otherwise, "people are second-class citizens; they get forgotten about."
Sun is, of course, not alone in developing options for the remote teleconferecer. The award-winning Pebbles teleconferencing robot allows sick children to not only attend classes, but actually move through the halls, piloting the Pebbles robot remotely.
These devices remind me of an early science-fictional precursor - the "Arr-two" remote-control robots used in the 1981 novel Oath of Fealty by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. In the novel, Chief Engineer Tony Rand needed to be several places at once in an enormous construction site:
He had to follow the minutiae, because he didn't know what would turn out to be vital.That led to his development of robot probes; small devices with cameras and sound equipment which could move freely through Todos Santos under Rand's direct control.
(Read more about Niven and Pournelle's Arr-two robot probes)
Update 11-Jan-2024: See the entry for the proxy robot from Hotel Cosmos (1938) by Raymond Z. Gallun. End update.
Story via MIT Technology Review; read more about the Pebbles robot.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/15/2006)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Finally, Robot Conductors On Autonomous Buses
'Wardour Street,' he told the robot-conductor.' - Robert Silverberg, 1958.
RoboShiko! Sumo Exercises Still Good For Robots
'... the expressionless face before me was therefore that of the golem-wrestler, Rolem, a creature that could be set for five times the strength of a human being.' - Roger Zelazny, 1966.
Giant Robotic Hands At Gundam Next Future Science
'Waldo put his arms into the primary pair before him; all three pairs, including the secondary pair mounted before the machine, came to life.' - Robert Heinlein, 1942.
Robots Need A Better Sense Of Touch
'First, it rubbed my arms...'
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Finally, Robot Conductors On Autonomous Buses
'Wardour Street,' he told the robot-conductor.'
RoboShiko! Sumo Exercises Still Good For Robots
'... the expressionless face before me was therefore that of the golem-wrestler, Rolem, a creature that could be set for five times the strength of a human being.'
Giant Robotic Hands At Gundam Next Future Science
'Waldo put his arms into the primary pair before him; all three pairs, including the secondary pair mounted before the machine, came to life.'
JWST Finds Bucking Centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1
'... the glittering little rocket bolted to the black iron behind him.'
BeamBike Solar Power Canopy For Electric Bikes
'The slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector...'
California Fireman Arrested For Starting Fires
'Fire is bright and fire is clean.'
Robots Need A Better Sense Of Touch
'First, it rubbed my arms...'
MouthPad Supports Head And Tongue Tracking
'The operation that had transformed half his body... had located the control switchboard in his teeth.'
REALLY Remote Control Excavators
'It takes over a second for the signal to get to the Moon...'
Disney Helping Robots Dance
Dance, Robots, Dance.
Kolors Virtual-Try-On Predicted, And TRIED, By Harry Harrison
'Bill blinked at his own face under the plumed helmet...'
Detecting Drones In Ukraine With Candy (Sukork)
'...a robot detector circuit closed, activating a bell."
Nevada Will Use AI To Decide Worker Benefits
'They had screwed up and been blacklisted by Manna.'
Tether Cryptocurrency Flow Rate US$190Bn Per Day
'Alex did not find it surprising that people... were electronically minting their own cash.'
First Trips To Mars Announced By Elon Musk
'I had determined that my first attempt should be a visit to Mars.'
WaPOCHI Micro-Mobility Robot Follows Like A Pet With Your Bags
To follow the user like a pet while carrying their cargo!
