Arstechnica has a writeup of an affordable telepresence robot. They affectionately call it an iPad on a Roomba. I think it’s kind of an interesting idea for higher ed. I can imagine a few scenarios where this might be handy:

• A student that’s unable to attend class due to illness or injury.
• Distance learning.
• Meetings across campus when the weather stinks.
• Attend meetings while taking flex/family time or telecommuting.
• Long distance dissertation defences.
• Perhaps a high profile quarterback at an SEC school could have used this to attend class without actually setting foot on campus.

Currently there are a few limitations that they need to get resolved:

• 8 hour battery life.
• Has to be plugged in and unplugged. Major Bummer.
• Needs a flashing light to avoid getting run over in hallways.
• Can the ipad be stolen easily?
• At 15 pounds can I just pick up the device and run off with it?

The power and charging issues look like they will be resolved later this month with the addition of a $300 charging base.

All in all, this looks to be a pretty interesting unit that is substantially cheaper than some of the alternatives. C3P0 remains unimpressed however.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/02/video-ars-rolls-in-with-a-telepresence-robot/