TERESA is a 3-year research project funded by the European Union and carried out by six institutions from four European countries. Its goal is to develop a new socially intelligent semi-autonomous telepresence system.

Chronically ill, homebound children who use robotic surrogates to “attend” school feel more socially connected with their peers and more involved academically, according to a first-of-its-kind study by University of California, Irvine education researchers.

UW-Madison Science Narratives and partners have joined together to create a 5-month video and audio adventure, exploring the work of Dr Bilge Mutlu and colleagues as they craft robots from a human perspective. It’s not just science fiction.

In our final post for this series, we’ll talk about the future of telepresence. For most robots telepresence is just the beginning, a means to an end. Many of the robots in this series are meant for office, medical, or home. Allowing human operators to teach robots through telepresence creates a synergy along with higher levels of autonomy.

In our previous post we looked at socially engaging robots and how they are helping to break down barriers to remote presence. Another area on the fringe of telepresence is service robots. These robots operate autonomously, but have the ability to be controlled in telepresence mode when the need arises. The symbiosis between robot and machine allows these robots to take care of easier things, while allowing humans to take over when it needs help. As autonomy improves, the bar moves higher and higher.

The primary aim of these telepresence robots is to become more socially engaging and promote non-verbal communication. While many of us are used to the telephone, meeting face to face is a much more enriching experience, particularly when it comes to building relationships. Telepresence lowers this barrier with visual communication, but these robots aim to lower it even further.

A number of telepresence toys came onto the market between 2011 and 2013 and crashed a few years later. While most of the products in this category marketed themselves as toys first, and telepresence second, they all provided interactive play and telepresence for exploration. Most of these companies are now pivoting away from telepresence, but there are still a few on the scene.

Tabletop telepresence devices began to pop up on the market about two years ago. Though its a small slice of the telepresence market, it’s differentiated enough from other categories to be mentioned in a separate post. Many telepresence users simply want the ability to pan and tilt around a room. While this solution doesn’t work well for places like museums, it’s perfect for classrooms, meetings, or get togethers where you don’t need much mobility.

Personal telepresence robots have exploded onto the market thanks to the help of tablets, smartphones, and crowdfunding sites. Geared toward the economics of personal use, these robots typically cost less than $3000 (tablet typically not included) and don’t require a monthly subscription. While the telemedicine category of telepresence devices has been plagued by lawsuits, the only drama in this category is the love (or hate) of your smart device.

Telemedicine is a rapidly growing field and, with the aid of telepresence robots, is quickly gaining traction in hospitals and homes around the world.

Business class telepresence is where high tech meets high price. Typically starting at $3,000 USD, often with a monthly service fee, these robots are a lot more than just tablets on a stick.

Telepresence robots have been around since the early 2000s, with a research project called PEBBLES out of Ryerson University in Toronto. When I first started covering this area a little over three years ago, there were only a handful of products available. Since then, the market has exploded, with a slew of robots ranging from the table-top Kubi and the sleek Double to the highly advanced Ava 500. They’ve also been on the move, heading out of the office, attending conferences, and touring museums. In this series I’ll be updating you on telepresence as is stands today, the various market categories, and where the field is headed.

Robots are great for doing dull, dirty, and dangerous jobs, and few jobs are more dangerous and downright dull (at times) than waiting in line to buy the latest tech gadget. Last week in Palo Alto, California, and in Sydney, Australia, telepresence devices stood in for their human counterparts to buy the iPhone 6S. 

Vecna, a growing robotic mobility provider for hospitals and warehouses, acquired VGo, a provider of mobile telepresence devices, for an undisclosed amount.

For those with extreme mobility problems, such as paralysis following spinal cord injury or neurological disease, telepresence can greatly help to offset social isolation. However, controlling a mobile telepresence device through obstacles like doorways can be difficult when fine motor skills have been compromised. Researchers from CNBI, EPFL and NCCR Robotics this week published a cunning solution that uses brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to enable patients to share control with the robot, making it far easier to navigate.