Meet The Double (YC S12), A Teleconferencing Robot With An iPad For A Face

That's a pretty impressive price point and I'd love to know more about the in house manufacturing.<p>The one company that has really succeeded in this area is Giraff. They've done so by intensely focusing on in-home care and the user experience for the person interacting with the robot. Things like end user controls to approve/reject someone who wants to start driving the robot.<p>Anybots, on the other hand, focused more on the driving experience. Their rendered, in-browser, drive window helps overcome the awful user experience of trying to turn under lag. They also did a lot of hard work to solve wifi roaming and seamless handoff.<p>I wish Double the best of luck with my advice being that you need months of uptime and recorded daily use in a target vertical before you're ready to release.

We used a pair of VGo telepresence robots at our NYC and Philadelphia offices last year. Here's some video from the demo, just before we got them: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3tLLzOqKs4" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3tLLzOqKs4</a><p>I found the VGo to be a huge help when it came to being present in an office that I couldn't physically go to at the time. I was the head of a department that had groups in different cities, and it was a lot easier for me to feel I had a cohesive team when I was able to actually "be" there instead of just on Skype. It's hard to overstate the value of being able to go join a quick work session at the couches, or go looking for someone in an office where people are always busy and wandering around.<p>Of course, in a large company where not everyone is an early adopter, to put it politely, there's also an annoying side to having a telepresence robot. Some people spend more time focusing on the novelty than getting to work, and it can be a distraction. A lot of people weren't comfortable using the VGo themselves, even though it was available for anyone. There are definite social hurdles to overcome with some people.<p>I'd probably like the Double even more than the VGo, because it looks less intrusive, has a larger screen thanks to the iPad, and the adjustable height is a very big deal. I'm looking forward to having one in the future. Love the price, too.

So their biggest competitor is Anybots, but they're funded (through YC) by Anybot's founder and going through YC in the same physical space as Anybots?<p>It strikes me that the main axis of competition is simply price. Otherwise it just seems like co-opetition.

For the reason that this is real technology and not just another consumer/social/we'll figure out the business model later idea, I hope this grows and becomes huge, or at the very least spawns some other applications.<p>In a week that NASA lands a robot on Mars, I'm glad to see real technology being created, that perhaps looks crazy or inapplicable at first. Great stuff guys.

Direct link to our site: <a href="http://www.doublerobotics.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.doublerobotics.com</a>

The hardest part for telepresence robots is finding a market/use case to grow in. Being cheaper is a great first step, but who are you selling to?

According to the article, they want to do it "the lean startup way".<p>So... why does it have to be self-balancing? Just add a third wheel and it's always stable - no need for gyros and complicated electronics. And as a by-product, you have immediately lowered the price massively: it's just a few motors then instead of that balancing magic. My price lowering guess would be between 50% and 80% lower. That would be really "the lean startup way" in my book.<p>(Idea courtesy of <a href="http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=segway_more_complicated_than_it_needs_to_be%20" rel="nofollow">http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=segway_more_complicated_t...</a>)

I'd find this difficult to tolerate at work. I can't imagine anybody addressing me with one of these. Not only that I am certain no work place I have worked at would ever buy something like this. And they're all happy to spend thousands of dollars on things which would improve our productivity.<p>I was ready to dismiss the idea until I saw the end of the video. I think outside of business/work it could be quite useful (as demonstrated by the art gallery).

That's really neat, I think this has a number of uses and not just at work.<p>How does it stand up though? Is there an acceleramoter or similar powering a balancing act?

I had a related idea recently: Just hire a tall actress to carry around an iPad running Facetime. (Perhaps with a custom shoulder-strap?) It's going to be a bit longer before robots get up to the level of humans in terms of versatility, social awareness, and attractiveness. Until then, using a human would have certain advantages for a high-end solution.

I'm excited to see some hardware concepts coming out of YC in the past couple of years. I think that the lean startup model is starting to be much more viable (vs 5 years ago) in the hardware space thanks to low cost prototyping electronics, 3D printing, and small batch size manufacturing.

Impressive design, both mechanical and graphic. Does anyone know who produced the video?

I built something like this 2 years ago at iOSDevCamp out of legos. <a href="http://zbowling.github.com/NXTRover/" rel="nofollow">http://zbowling.github.com/NXTRover/</a><p>I love that of this was taped at TokBox :-)

For those who are interested, Suitable Technologies (from Willow Garage) will be making an announcement next month:<p><a href="http://suitabletech.com" rel="nofollow">http://suitabletech.com</a>

Check out the prototype, made public at WWDC over a year ago: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BXM9PYaXY0" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BXM9PYaXY0</a>

Here's another competitor... looks like the home telepresense market might be ripe and ready! <a href="http://9thsense.com/" rel="nofollow">http://9thsense.com/</a>

<i>&#62;&#62; It uses OpenTalk to essentially let you video chat with those people.</i><p>What is "OpenTalk"? I've never heard of that protocol/API/software before. And Googling turns up nothing except some abandonware from 2009. <a href="http://download.cnet.com/OpenTalk/3000-2150_4-10568159.html" rel="nofollow">http://download.cnet.com/OpenTalk/3000-2150_4-10568159.html</a>

Cool concept, hope it does well.<p>Seems ironic that "They were actually developing a product that required partnerships with Chinese manufacturers, and they found themselves increasingly frustrated by the fact that they couldn’t keep an eye on the project".

Does the iPad need to be charged seperately, or can it recharge when the robot is plugged in?

This is pretty darn cool and pretty darn freaky at the same time. It may want to use both front and back cameras to see if someone is coming at it from the back since it won't be able to get back up on its own. :o)

So, it's a Segway with FaceTime? The main question is why? Even the video can't seem to find a decent use case. The art gallery idea is ridiculous, why would you physically control a robot that wanders an art gallery when the gallery has a website? Also have you ever tried actually wandering around a gallery? The robot wouldn't stand a chance. What happens when someone knocks it over?<p>In the workplace this would just be embarrassing. Not to mention a security threat, there's no way any serious corporation would allow roaming cameras in their offices.<p>If I put my idealist hat on and try to imagine the future with these, I keep coming back to those Segway videos of the hype of a new kind of city, a new kind of transportation.<p>This really is a technology in search of a use case, that isn't already being addressed. I read comments that say they would use these to attend meetings, how does this robot compare to Cisco's video conferencing, or FaceTime or even just calling in from the car/home. At work we use screen sharing and audio/visual conferencing which seems to work just fine, and where it doesn't it will evolve.<p>I'm wondering how this robot would push the elevator button to get to a meeting on another floor? There are just so many problems with this idea, not the least of which is who would actually buy one.