Telepresence and University Attendance

Telepresence robots are going to require policy decisions for universities with attendance policies. Would a student be counted as present if they are participating in classroom discussion using a robot, rather than being physically present?

I suspect that universities are restricted from revising attendance policies to include telepresence, as accrediting agencies and U.S. financial aid regulations would all need to agree to any such policy before adoption.

-DD

Telepresence On The University Campus

John Waters reports that Oral Roberts University is using telepresence robots for campus tours and even graduation.

-DD

Telecommuting Tools

Christopher Null provides a list of ten tools for productive telecommuting .

-DD

Augmented Reality

Colin Neagle expounds on "Augmented Reality: What do Businesses Need to Know?." Neagle provides examples of firms (Lego and Ikea) that are already deploying augmented reality technologies similar to Google Glass. They are being used to attract customers, to demonstrate how a project can be completed, and so forth.

Another form of augmented reality was explored by Zack Minors, who reports that at SXSW the "Beam [Mobile Robotic] Videoconferencing Device Takes a Spin." Minors reports that "on the exhibit hall's opening day, attendees were greeted by a talking monitor on wheels." Other firms such as Double Robotics and Mantarobot.

I believe a more primitive, less interactive version of robot technology was used by the Japanese to explore the radioactive Fukushima nuclear power plant. I can forsee that distant supervisors might rent such robots to conduct surprise inspections of distant facilities, creating a market for "robot rentals."

-DD