Telepresent at iREX through the QB robot

 I didn't go to iREX this year, but I did get to see a bit of the action through Anybot's new telepresence robot QB.  

 QB is a simplified version of QA, costing one third of the price while maintaining the basic functions of the original robot. By making the design simpler, namely decreasing the number of motors from 6 to 2 and moving most of the electronics to the base, the price has now come down to 10,000 dollars. QB weighs 35 lb, 20 lb less than QA, and is height adjustable. All this makes QB easier to transport than QA. Anybots plans to commercialize QB by next spring.

    

   Anybots officially announced QB at iREX in Tokyo this week and I wanted to use the robot to interview people at the show. Trevor Blackwell, founder of Anybots, kindly agreed, and he came with his Mac so that I can operate QB from my home office. QB was being exhibited at the iREX booth by Innovation Matrix which will be the distributor in Japan. 

 And it was EXTREMELY FUN!!! I got to catch up with a couple of GetRobo readers that appeared at the booth and also chatted with vistors that were wandering around the exhibit floor. In general they were all pleased to be approached by QB and being asked questions from me in California (except for the 2 cases where I ran into them). They too had questions about the robot so I relayed them to Trevor and he was able to answer them real time. It worked out great! 

 So, although I don't see myself buying a 10,000 dollar robot anytime soon, I can imagine a future scenario where I would rent it by the hour so that I can visit places and do things that I would not normally be able to do. The feeling was a bit similar to doing interviews inside Second Life (which by the way I did do several years ago for a news article) but much more fun and of course real. In terms of approaching and interviewing complete strangers, I felt it was easier using a robot than doing it there myself. Even when I am rejected, I don't have to feel personal about it. :-)