

‘Double’ (YC S12) Turns the iPad Into a Telepresence Robot - sew
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/18/double-turns-the-ipad-into-a-telepresence-robot/?hp&pagewanted=all

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templaedhel
I met the double guys at an event earlier in the summer. They had just been
accepted into YC and had brought one of their original prototypes to the party
and were driving it around.

It was a prototype, with a rough cut aluminum skeleton and questionable
balance, but it was still a goddamn iPad segway, and they were driving it
around a crowded space talking to people through the camera. It was awesome.

I can't speak to how big the telepresence market is, or how the price point
compares, but I wish these guys the best of luck, because while I'm sitting at
my desk coding another web application, these guys are building freaking
robots.

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kurtvarner
The quality of companies in this batch of YC is mind blowing. I know PG says
the quality increases with each batch, but from what I've seen thus far, YC
S12 seems noticeably more impressive.

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chriseidhof
Really awesome.

However, I wonder if this would be a problem when working with Apple:

Apps that use location-based APIs for automatic or autonomous control of
vehicles, aircraft, or other devices will be rejected

Apps that use location-based APIs for dispatch, fleet management, or emergency
services will be rejected

(See also: [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9199241/has-apple-
provide...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9199241/has-apple-provide-
reasoning-for-their-location-based-api-restrictions))

Just trying to think of the worst-case scenario, but it wouldn't be hard to
attach a (remote-controlled?) weapon to this device.

~~~
bengl3rt
"Apps that use location-based APIs for dispatch, fleet management, or
emergency services will be rejected"

Sounds to me like that would get Uber rejected?

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freeslave
I dread the day I go to an art gallery and have to jockey for postion amongst
a bunch of iPads on segways.

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jlgreco
Thankfully they surely cannot weigh that much. I wonder what they would do if
people got in the habit of picking them up and moving them out of the way.

~~~
snogglethorpe
Also: no nerves, so you could do all _sorts_ of stuff to them without them
noticing... got a wrench? remove their wheels...

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robbiet480
Really awesome to see such an awesome use of OpenTok
(<http://www.tokbox.com/>)

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aantix
Given the huge need for engineers in SV, I'm curious as to how well one of
these robots would allow someone remotely to participate in our team's day-to-
day interactions. Particularly pair programming..

I'm not $2,000+ curious, but still has me wondering..

~~~
mikkom
And why that would be better to use a strange moving machine rather than usual
video conferencing that only requires a monitor/projector and simple camera.

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FredBrach
I think I got the answer: because you don't have to schedule the conference.
This is amazing imho.

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janineyoong
Last Friday I used the Double to sit at the lunch table with the team in San
Francisco (I'm in New York). Lunch is not something the team is inclined to
open up a regular videocon session on, but lunch conversation is something I
miss out a lot on from working remotely. People talk about stuff (work and non
work related) a lot more candidly at the lunch table than in conference rooms.
There were a lot of nervous giggles and "that's creepy" remarks but I think
its just about getting used to the form.

~~~
FredBrach
Sincerely amazing.

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SoftwareMaven
Has anybody used a telepresence robot? I'm wondering what the experience is
like in real life.

~~~
anandkulkarni
Until recently you could do it on the Anybots website. It's like a video call
mixed with an R/C robot: you can really explore spaces and interact with
people.

However, talking with a telepresence robot from the other side is a completely
different experience. You get a terrific sense of being with another entity.
It's fantastic.

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nodesocket
Wow, the promo video is one of the nicest I've seen since Apple and Square.
Would love to know who did it for you guys?

Really awesome idea. I assume the robot must be connected on WiFi to move and
function?

~~~
Undertow10
The video was made by our friends over at Mission Control Media:
<http://missioncm.com>. Talk to Greg and Ken, they're awesome!

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le_isms
I want to slap a Kinect on it and turn it into a poor-man's (well, relatively)
Ava: <http://www.irobot.com/ava/>

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tomflack
Previous discussion here: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4379769>

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aantix
>Double recharges to full capacity in about 2 hours with the provided AC to DC
wall adapter.

So someone at the physical location has to plug the robot back in to charge?
Doesn't it make more sense to have a docking station so that you can simply
drive the robot into a position where it can charge itself?

~~~
aantix
Just saw this tweet :

>No charging dock yet, and the iPad talks over bluetooth, so it will need
separate charging. Stuff is in the works, stay tuned!

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skorgu
Yeah the lack of a story for how to charge the thing without someone nearby is
a deal breaker for a lot of use cases. If they sort that out reasonably I can
see a few places I've worked at picking up some of these for remote teams.

~~~
aantix
Agree. That's the use case that I have in mind as well.

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anandkulkarni
I've preordered one, and am looking forward to ordering more.

As a longtime follower of this space, this price point enables many more
possibilities than previous robots, and using off-the-shelf computing hardware
is the right solution.

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zbowling
again, tokbox+robot=AWESOME.

I built something like this 2010 at iOSDevCamp out of legos after the ipad
came out. :-) <http://zbowling.github.com/NXTRover/>

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mtkd
Love that so many startups are looking at hardware innovation - like this,
Square, Ouya, Pebble etc. Even if this isn't a mass-market product in it's own
right - only good things can come from building it.

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kaichanvong
Inspired by Big Bang Theory? Pretty sure it'll get the same reaction at
first...

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bIoeBpSeU4>

~~~
baali
The one in Big Bang Theory is Texai from Willow Garage I think,
<http://www.willowgarage.com/pages/texai/overview> and has been around from
quite some time.

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tkahn6
This seemed pretty dumb until I watched the video. The highlighted art gallery
use-case is very, very weak and contrived in my opinion.

Definitely a killer product though. There are lots of very serious potential
uses for something like this and it looks to be executed very well.

~~~
brk
Agree about the art-gallery use case, and as a guy that has been involved in a
lot of product companies I think it's important that the initial demo videos
show solutions to real problems.

If your initial launch marketing positions the unit as some esoteric solution
to a non-problem (especially if it's for a "rich persons" non-problem), people
seem more apt to forget about the product overall. Show some demo videos of it
being used for REAL applications, and there is a greater chance people will
remember it and/or aspire to wanting one (which helps keep you stuck in their
subconscious). Nobody is going to go to work and say "did you hear about that
robot you can use to browse art galleries remotely?", but they will say "did
you hear about that robot that you can use to go grocery shopping?" (or
something similar, I don't have a better example because I can't really think
of a good use for a telepresence robot, but that's just me).

