RoboDynamics Announces the First Installation of its Telepresence Robot TiLR at the X PRIZE Foundation

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Telepresence and Holography / Holograms - November 2008

Editor’s viewpoint on their differences, likenesses and future...

We all just recently viewed an historic CNN holographic interview on an historic Election Night. CNN stated this type of imaging has never been done before on National TV and I believe that. I haven’t seen anything like it. The live interview caught me by surprise and sure had the “wow” factor attached to it didn’t it? Here’s a link to the actual interview.

CNN Hologram Video

The question now has to be asked. Is it Telepresence?

I’m no expert on the subject but I’m going to throw my hat into the ring, go out on a limb and say yes, I believe it is. Although I know many video conferencing purists are rolling their eyes and grabbing their guns right about now with my statement.

While I do know that Telepresence still hasn’t been universally defined (Houston, we have a problem), here’s how I see it…. Broken down to its simplest form - “tele” (through electronic means) and “presence” (present). This is how I’m justifying my opinion by lumping holography and Telepresence together. Just as Telepresence is surely an offshoot of video conferencing, holographic imaging (like we viewed on CNN) surely has to be considered an offshoot of Telepresence. The interviewer was “telepresent” from Chicago and beamed into the CNN Election Headquarters. She was most assuredly - “telepresent”. There was negligible latency, the imaging was fantastic and both interviewers were rehearsed on what they would say. I’ve just recently read that CNN actually “downgraded” the experience to make it “movie” quality and not as good as it could have been. Maybe they thought us mere mortals would be shocked if they showed their complete hand. I have a feeling it was so big to them, they didn’t want it to get upstaged by the historic election. I’m willing to bet we’ll see the “true” power of this technology in the upcoming weeks and months when they can put the pedal to the medal and show it off without having it sidetracked.

What an amazing time for this technology (all differences and opinions aside). Telepresence Doctors, nurses, teachers, schools and healthcare (healthpresence) will benefit from the recent gains in this state-of-the-art industry whether holograms, Telepresence or holography. Airlines also have to see the threat to a portion of their business travel. Hell, who wants go through security and fly to Miami for a two-hour conference when you can look them in the eye via Telepresence?

Beam me up Scotty! Simply amazing…!

Visit the free Telepresence Forum for more information and discussion

Your Editor and Administrator - L II
"Ride on the Next Plane of Existence" TM

Santa Monica, CA (PRWEB) August 29, 2008 -- RoboDynamics Corporation, the first company to commercialize an affordable Robotic Telepresence Platform, is announcing its first installation of their robot TiLR at the offices of the X PRIZE Foundation.

With this temporary beta-installation the X PRIZE Foundation becomes the first organization to test and evaluate the benefits of a Robotic Telepresence Platform. Robotic Telepresence provides the ability to instantly transport a person to a remote location without the person actually going there. Robotic Telepresence is similar to video conferencing in that there is a real time audio/video link, but also provides the means for the user to commandeer the robot and move about the remote location as though the user was actually there.

"We are honored to have an organization of the caliber of the X PRIZE Foundation to be the first evaluation site for our TiLR platform," said Fred Nikgohar, CEO of RoboDynamics. "It is only befitting that the X PRIZE Foundation, whose Google Lunar X PRIZE is a race to put a telepresence robot on the surface of the moon and provide a live video feed of the lunar surface, is our first test site."

At the heart of RoboDynamics' telepresence platform is TiLR, a four foot tall robot which features a bright LCD screen and a powerful Canon camera. An operator logs into TiLR remotely using a standard PC and commandeers the robot at the remote location while having a real time audio/video link with the robot. Leveraging state of the art technologies in robotics, wireless, and artificial intelligence, TiLR provides the ability for a person to be in two places at the same time. By deploying TiLR and harnessing Robotic Telepresence, organizations can reduce downtime, eliminate travel, increase productivity, and maximize collaboration.

"We're very excited to have this opportunity to be the first official test site for this revolutionary technology. We see tremendous benefits in having the ability to collaborate with people in this new, intuitive, and natural way," said Michael Fabio, Google Liaison and Community Manager for the Google Lunar X PRIZE.

ABOUT ROBODYNAMICS CORPORATION

RoboDynamics is an innovative robotics company that focuses on enterprise and industrial Robotic Telepresence. We have a world class team of engineers with deep expertise in robotics, artificial intelligence, electronics, and mechanics. Our process is to begin with the customer, conduct world class R&D to create revolutionary technology, and culminate it all into a unique product that changes the paradigm of collaboration across the enterprise and industrial landscape. Our mission is to leverages state of the art robotic technologies to change the way people live and work. For more information please visit www.robodynamics.com.

ABOUT THE X PRIZE FOUNDATION

The X PRIZE Foundation is an educational nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. In 2004, the Foundation captured the world's attention when the Burt Rutan-led team, backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, built and flew the world's first private spaceship to win the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for suborbital spaceflight. The Foundation has since launched the $10 million Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, and the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE. The Foundation and its revolution partner BT Global Services are creating prizes in Exploration (Space and Oceans), Life Sciences, Energy & Environment, Education and Global Development. The Foundation is widely recognized as the leading model for fostering innovation through competition. For more information, please visit www.xprize.org.

Press Contacts:

Alex Lea

RoboDynamics Corp.

alexlea@robodynamics.com

Mike Fabio

Google Lunar X PRIZE

prcontact@xprize.org

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Telepresence - "Ride on the Next Plane of Existence" - Telepresence
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