Howard R.I.P/Telepresence-True Embodiment

It's Friday - do you ever feel like a hamster on a wheel, doing the same drill over and over again? How many times, on this blog have I written those very words, "It's Friday?" And speaking of hamsters it bears telling that when I was a kid I had, over the course of about six years, sixty or so hamsters. I was a hamster lady - even took them to college with me (was not popular with my roommate who didn't enjoy the sound of their treadmills at night). A hamster whisperer really - I could nurse a sick hamster with wet tail disease back from the brink of death. Was an act of love -I held the hamster in my hands 24X7 to impart warmth (or tucked in my decolletage if I needed my hands). Point is, the little things were chilled, having lost their own internal thermometers - they needed ambient warmth and drops of water fed to them, often all through the day and night until they recovered. Wow, I'm on hamster memory lane this morning! Thinking of Howard - my hamster stud. First hamster I got and the last one to go - with many wives and children in between. He and I were tight - took him everywhere in my pocket. Only time we had a falling out was when I carelessly fed him taffy on a hot summer day and then kept him out all day so he couldn't empty his pouches. When we finally got home, it took hours and hours to pull the stringy taffy out of his cheeks - it was like watching a taffy pull. If hamster dirty looks could kill!

Anyway, back to Friday and, these days, my terror of weekends. Tonight Adrienne and I will go to Schaller's - I will try not to think of "he who shall not be named" when I sing heart wrenching torch songs. Won't text him or reach out to him - doing better with that these days. Not drinking vodka helps a lot! Tomorrow, voice lesson, event at the Women's Club, Lucas and Convex coming over in the evening and Sunday helping that American Cancer guy again with the throw he's trying to make for his cousin. Singing at 12 West Elm with friend Pam on Sunday evening.

Just read the latest New Scientist cover to cover. Really compelling articles - the front cover: "Homo Virtuous - Why We Evolved to be Good - and Evil", "The Higgs Problem - What exactly is that particle?", "The Calm after the Super-Storm - New York Prepares for Worse to Come", "Double Whammy - Swine Flu may also cause diabetes", "Anywhere, Anytime - The Amazing Powers of Telepresence."

Best article was the one on telepresence. I was unaware how far the technology has come and where it seems to be headed. Previous to reading the article, when I heard the word telepresence I thought Skype or company video conferences or distance learning classrooms - technology that's been with us a good while. So, I was surprised to read that robot surrogates are out there in the world, controlled by humans often half a planet away (think remote surgeons and soldiers controlling surveillance robots). "These virtual travelers can hold down nine-to-five jobs, fight wars and perform life-saving operations." Article highlighted a boy named Devon who has allergies so severe he can't leave his house. Yet, he goes to school every day. He moves between classrooms with his friends, gets in trouble from teachers for being late, is scolded if he's caught not paying attention and is, in many ways, just a normal kid. Yet, he's a a two-wheeled, 1.5 meter-tall, Segway-like robot called VGo.

The technology as it exists today blurs the boundaries of where you are in the world. Who is Devon? Is he the kid sitting in his bedroom pushing buttons or is he the roving Segway with a video screen for a head? When asked if he feels like he's at home or at school, he says, matter-of- factly, "Oh yeah, I'm definitely at school!"  What's more, that experience is about to be made even more real with advances to the technology. The goal is "true embodiment". "True embodiment goes far beyond classical telepresence by making you feel that the thing you are embodying is part of you," says Abderahmane Kheddar of the CNRS-AIST Joint Robotics Laboratory in Tsukuba, Japan. And in Pisa, Italy they're working on enhancements that will simulate sensations when you're controlling the remote robot. "All it takes is little vibrations over specific muscles, which stimulate sensory receptors that are then interpreted by the brain as movement in the associated joint."

So here you are sitting in your bedroom, stationary (maybe you are bedbound). You're controlling your robot - maybe you're a bedridden CEO that just can't give up the helm even though your body is wracked by MS. You Segway to the head of the board room table and remotely examine your underlings. They fail to pay you the respect they would if you were there live. You are incensed and slam your robot fist on the table. The hardness of the table is transmitted back to you and you actually feel as though you slammed the table. The room is too hot - sensors in the robot send that information back to you and suddenly your bedroom feels stifling. You Segway over to the thermometer in the board room and turn the heat down. And because you're a robot, you can control the meeting in a way your flesh and blood self couldn't. You have super hearing - can hear the derisive whispers of your underlings when you roll out the new sales comp plan. You are programmed to instantly and simultaneously analyze body language and facial expressions  - you know exactly, through analytics, who your allies and enemies are. What's more, you have facts and statistics at your fingertips - your robot knowledge can be instantly merged with your human intuition to make powerful and targeted arguments. The possibilities are limitless, right?

Quote:

The makers of telepresence technology ultimately aim to fully immerse our senses in a location far from our own. And this may inevitably raise the question of how we anchor ourselves in reality. When we can walk, talk and work in a distant land while our body resides at home, where do we exist at that moment in time? In the world that holds your body, or the one that holds your mind?

Challenge today is simply thinking of this emerging technology. It's really here - available for commercial consumption - use to cost close to $10K for a bot - now a company called Double Robotics (American company in Miami) has rolled out a roving telepresence robot with an IPad for a head "for the same price as a high-end laptop."  What do we think of this? Cool or scary?

Peace,
Sarah

One sweet application of the technology is giving bots to homesick kids in the hospital. They can "transport" themselves back home. Imagine waking in the night to a little bot standing by your bed, telling you it's thirsty!