Futuristic videoconference from the movie ‘Demolition Man’ (so last century).
‘iRobot (IRBT) adds another product to its league of extraordinarily practical machines, the Ava 500. It’s a far cry from the Roomba vacuum, its corporate cousin. The Ava—short for Avatar—is a pricey, wheeled robot designed to navigate corporate offices autonomously and facilitate videoconference calls between workers and their remote colleagues. It comes with a high-definition video screen, some onboard mapping smarts, and Cisco’s TelePresence, a high-quality videoconferencing system meant to create the illusion that far-flung collaborators are sitting across a table from one another. The idea is to “turn an entire office into a high-quality videoconferencing room,†says Colin Angle, iRobot’s chief executive.’
– Businessweek
How about that. The CEO is across the country, but she’ll meet you at your desk in 30 seconds (thanks to AVA 500)! Now, straighten up your desk!
WATCH: IROBOT CEO COLIN ANGLE DISCUSSES INTRODUCTION OF AVA 500 (VIDEO)
READ: MEET THE AVA 500: THE ROOMBA’S CORPORATE COUSIN (BUSINESSWEEK)
– @ojones1
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