Image: Flickr/J. Nathan Mathias
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One look at promotional materials for these kind of bots makes the target audience obvious (perhaps with the exception of a Japanese firmâs robo-rental scheme). Barabas said that the robot used for the Peopleâs Bot projectâa Double Robotics modelâsells for $2500, not including the iPad.They wanted to democratise the idea of telepresence a little, and extend its benefits to more people. How it technically works is quite simple: the bot user signs in and their face appears on the screen, so they can chat to other guests face to face while potentially sitting on the other side of the world. The advantage over more common technologies like Skype is that they can also control the botâthey âwalkâ using arrow keys, so can approach different people as they please, rather than waiting for a conversation partner to accept a call.People's Bot scholar Rodrigo Ochigame met Joselyn in the hall, learning they both work with Native Americans & tech pic.twitter.com/tjaBSZz8yV
â J. Nathan Matias (@natematias) April 28, 2014
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The general idea is that the bot allows people who arenât in the area or canât afford a ticket to go to the event, at least for a little while. But while that sounds very appealing for would-be attendeesâa ticket for all days of CHI this year cost up to a wince-inducing $1400âI asked if conference organisers wouldnât consider this kind of bot scheme as unfairly gaming the system.Barabas said they were unsure how the idea would be received, but that CHI had been quite open to the idea. âAnother thing weâre really needing to think about is respecting the policies of conferences in terms of recording events in terms of things that are closed,â she said. Theyâve written up a user license that outlines what people are allowed to do during their face time.The main application of the Peopleâs Bot is to enable informal learning opportunities, and while theyâre starting with conferences, it could be expanded to other events and networking opportunities. âOnce we leave university or secondary school, we donât get a lot of opportunities for formalised learning to happen, but there are a lot of really rich learning opportunities where people come together and share ideas,â said Barabas.The point is to maximise inclusivity at events that require live interactionâotherwise, you could just livestream the goings-on. I wondered if at some point weâd end up with no-one physically attending events and just an army of bots bashing wheels, but Barabas said she didnât think telepresence would ever replace human meetings. âI use Skype and telepresence technology on a daily basis and itâs still not the same as face-to-face interaction,â she said. Itâs really intended for people who canât be at a particular event.âAt the same time itâs also not necessarily less valuable than a face-to-face event,â she continued. For one, itâs a pretty good ice-breaker to walk into a room as a robot, and would no doubt make breaking into those closed circles of people who already know each other a little less awkwardâor at least so ridiculous as to be impossible to ignore.Will Franklin from the Guardian joins the #chi2014 via @ThePeoplesBot pic.twitter.com/BbkuOF3ep0
â J. Nathan Matias (@natematias) April 28, 2014