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Comment by trymas | Hacker News Reader

It remembers me a south park halloween special episode, where Stan facetimes with it's iPad [0].

It's my personal opinion, but even though idea looks rather good (give a physical presence, by working remotely), wouldn't it be just a very strange and awkward (and maybe smug) to use? Like the original segway, which was very cool invention, but did not gain much traction, due to how awkward it is, how people look smug using it, etc (even though 'hoverboard' gained a lot of popularity, but is IMHO an inferior gadget).

All in all, cool, though IMHO people will need to take a lot of time to be accustomed by such device.

[0] http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/screencrush.com/442/f...

P.S. cannot compare to segway robot, as their servers seem to struggle to load the content at the moment of writing this comment.

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Wired had an article about this:

http://www.wired.com/2015/09/my-life-as-a-robot-double-robot...

Nice..

Though if I would work in such office, personally it would be rather awkward and cringeworthy experience on either end.

And the video did not show any advantages against classic conference video call (it wasn't the goal of a video, but if there would've been more uses for it, then it would've shown in the video). You basically just can wander around the office in glorified RC vehicle, drive into the conference room and chat during a meeting.

The value of the robot is that everyone else doesn't need to be set up for video calls. We have a remote worker who uses one in my office periodically (actually two remote workers share it, but I rarely see the other person use it). He can roll into anyone's office and chat with them. I have a camera set up in my office specifically for video conferences, but most people do not. He can still conference with then in an ad hoc manner.

> I have a camera set up in my office specifically for video conferences, but most people do not.

Don't most laptops these days have an integrated camera?

And how do the other people in the room see the remote person? How easy it is to do that while making sure the camera catches everyone? How do you start the call, what software do you use? The robot sidesteps all of these.

My work laptop has one, yes, but it is closed and docked so I can use the two larger monitors on the desk. Ergo it is equivalent to not having a camera at all.

I work remote. Most video conferences are great, except when too many people are in the same office and start talking to each other. Then audio quality goes down, and you can't place a word in the discussion.

I couldn't imagine using one of those robot to participate in a discussion with 15 people in the same room, and being the only remotee.

They could do a T-800 shaped "remote manager" option...

The Segway is quite large and needs parking or storage. Also, it can't go up stairs. Hoverboards can be picked up and carried easily around an office or home, and can be tossed under a desk or in a backpack for storage.

A Segway is like a bike in that you always have to be thinking about where to put it when you arrive. Hoverboard is much more like walking, in that you can toss it in your backpack or just carry it when you arrive.

Though I'd rather just walk.

The immediate use case I thought of when reading about it was that you don't have to worry about where to put it. You ride it to work then the robot pops up its cute little face and it drives itself back home. Then it's waiting to pick you up when you're done. Obviously, that would depend on software that's probably a lot more advanced than the current prototype. But I suppose that's why they're soliciting developers.

maybe they solved the Segway storage problem buy just having this thing trail you all day until you need it next. Just don't use stairs.

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