"Human Uber": a person with a tablet on his face will be able to live for you

    In the fantastic action movie “Surrogates” , the world is shown, where people go to work, shop or date not themselves, but with the help of robots, staying at home. The future has already come: a Japanese start-up offers you to use other people with a tablet on your face for remote presence.


    At the EmTech conference , which was held in Singapore on January 30-31, a Japanese startup presented the ChameleonMask technology "Human Uber". The person in this case plays the role of a remote presence robot. The client sees what is happening with the help of the camera, his face is displayed on the tablet attached to the artist’s head, and the voice is heard through the device’s speaker. How exactly the performer sees where to go is not written on the site, but it can be assumed that with the help of a virtual reality helmet he sees the same thing as the client.

    The developers conducted several field studies. Experiments provided communication grandmother with her grandson, walked around the city with the face of the character anime and Lady Gaga. The tests showed that people perceive the “human Uber” as the person whose face is displayed.







    This is not surprising: telepresence robots have been used in schools for a long time - children who are ill for a long time can attend classes with their help. They "raise their hand" with the help of blinking LEDs, communicate with teachers and classmates. This practice has been studied in the United States in terms of the perception of these children by their peers. It turned out that the students perceived the robot so well as a real person who controls it, that there waseven their baiting (bulling). One of the girls was called a vacuum cleaner, and the boy was splashed a ketchup screen in his face with the words “What, will you complain to mommy?”.

    Will the effect in the case of using a person instead of a robot deeper, show further research. The developers also want to find the answer to the question: what is a human person if we separate its face from the body?


    One of the markets for the service could be nursing homes and medical facilities. Telepresence robots give positive emotions , help to communicate with children, family, friends. Perhaps soon in the same way it will be possible to send the service employee nearest to her grandmother to go in and talk to her, sitting face to face. Or you can help your friends with the move by hiring a surrogate with your build. No one will notice anything.

    Also popular now: