The idea of a band of robots cooking our food, cleaning our house, and driving our cars, might still be something of the distant future, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start utilizing them for some of life’s challenges, now. Anybots has created their QB model to allow you to be part of the action at work from home or anywhere. All you need is a web browser and you can interact with the whole office, lab, factory, or warehouse. QB glides around smoothly and quietly, giving you total access and presence. And let’s face it, if you’re going to have to go around asking for those TPS reports, over and over, again, wouldn’t it be more fun to drive a remote control robot around, while you bark commands through a video monitor at unsuspecting employees? We think so.
To use an Anybot, you simply put it and the charging dock where you normally sit. Then, you’re free to join meetings, pop into people’s cubicles, greet visitors, or see what they’re building in the lab. You can stay logged in all day, or just part of the day. When you’re logged in, the robots eyes are glowing so your colleagues know you’re there, creepily lingering over their shoulder, as they work. They can just come up to you and ask questions, and you can answer back. If you’re needed in a meeting or in the lab, just drive the robot there.
While it’s far fetched that we’ll start seeing QBs replacing actual employees, anytime soon (the $15,000 price tag creates a bit of a barrier for most employees looking to play hooky), it would be an interesting inner-office experiment. Especially, when you take into account the social implications of a robot contributing to weekly sales meetings, creative brainstorming, and casual chat around the water cooler (a slippery, and potentially deadly, activity for any robot running on a rechargeable batteries). If your colleagues and coworkers start spending all of their time with the Anybot version of you, will they feel weird when you actually show up and put in some real face time? Would it be like all of the people who start treating their Roomba vacuums like pets, only to feel guilty when using a traditional vacuum?
How would you feel having a robot boss or coworker interacting with you? At CM4, we’re all about thinking outside of the box and finding innovative ideas that challenge how we interact with people. The people over at Anybots, if nothing else, have certainly put together an impressive new system for the virtual worker. Potentially, you could use an Anybot to invite customers, vendors & consultants to use your office robot (who doesn’t like playing with remote control robots!?). You email them a special URL which gives them access. When they click on the link, they jump into your robot. You could even use it to give customers a tour of your production line (no hardhats required), or discuss an issue with a vendor’s equipment in your installation, or bring in a specialist to consult on a problem. Of course, this sketch from the Anybots official website promotes the most fun way to use your Anybot.
Work from the beach! Would you use an Anybot?
