I recently visited with robotics leader VGo Communications to look at a low-cost communications-centric robot currently aimed at medical applications. The potential is enormous thanks to clever engineering and the possibilities inherent in broadband wireless.
I’ll admit it – I’ve always been interested in robotics if for no reason other than pure nerdiness. But robots are today fixtures in so many applications that’s it’s hard to ignore the market beyond hobbyists like me, including industrial/factory floor settings, and, of course, residential floorcare. Indeed, one key application is in telemedicine, which can cover a broad spectrum of potential settings from rural and developing-world to monitoring patients in hospitals, assisted-living facilities, the residence, and, well, almost anywhere – think mobile telepresence and you’ve got it.
The VGo robot from VGo Communications of Nashua, NH, is a new approach to telepresence aimed at least initially at the healthcare opportunity. It’s based on Wi-Fi and weighs only a few kilograms. The device is stylish but unobtrusive and easy to drive from a remote location. I like to think of it as a mobile real-world avatar – there’s a screen, microphones, speakers, and a camera (with lighting), and the slender upright industrial design eases travel through any facility. It’s very quiet in operation and docks itself when it needs to recharge. Video and audio quality are excellent, but it’s easy to see how advances in both camera and display technology could be applied here over time. 802.11n provides more than sufficient bandwidth to accommodate whatever future requirements might hold.
While healthcare is the initial focus of the company, the VGo robot could also find a home in manufacturing, education, and many forms of mobile telepresence. A manager could wander around a remote facility (or several) with no human travel involved (this has increasing appeal all the time); a student unable to travel due to infirmity or a cancelled flight could attend a class and then an informal discussion group with others. One application VGo executives mentioned to me was attending meetings of limited duration but otherwise involving expensive travel over great distances – of an organization like the International Monetary Fund, for example. And while other forms of telepresence, from large million-dollar facilities to apps running on a tablet could also work here, the flexibility of being able to drive one’s avatar wherever one might like to go is more than interesting – it’s now practical: the VGo is relatively inexpensive at about US$6,000.
What about, though, adding an arm or other actuator? Or perhaps interfacing sophisticated medical or other devices (granted, regulatory approval would be required here)? As you can see, the power of wireless robotic telepresence is a field with enormous potential – I wouldn’t be surprised to see large numbers of these robots in use in dozens of applications over the next few years.
