Ubiquitous tele-embodiment: applications and implications

In the rush into cyberspace we leave our physical presence and our real-world environment behind. The internet, undoubtedly a remarkable modern communications tool, still does not empower us to enter the office of the person at the other end of the connection. We cannot look out of their window, admire their furniture, talk to their office-mates, tour their laboratory or walk outside. We lack the equivalent of a body at the other end with which we can move around in, communicate through and observe with. However, by combining elements of the internet and tele-robotics it is possible to transparently immerse users into navigable real remote worlds filled with rich spatial sensorium and to make such systems accessible from any networked computer in the world, in essence: tele-embodiment. In this article we describe the evolution and development of one such inexpensive, simple, networked tele-operated mobile robot (tele-mobot) designed to provide this ability. We also discuss several social implications and philosophical questions raised by this research.