UBIQUITOUS TELE-EMBODIMENT - APPLICATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

In the rush into cyberspace we leave our physical presence and our rea l-world environment behind. The internet, undoubtedly a remarkable mod ern 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, t our their laboratory or walk outside. We lack the equivalent of a body at the other end with which we can move around in, communicate throug h and observe with. However, by combining elements of the internet and tele-robotics it is possible to transparently immerse users into navi gable real remote worlds filled with rich spatial sensorium and to mak e such systems accessible from any networked computer in the world, in essence: tele-embodiment. In this article we describe the evolution a nd development of one such inexpensive, simple, networked tele-operate d mobile robot (tele-mobot) designed to provide this ability. We also discuss several social implications and philosophical questions raised by this research. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.