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The "Double" telepresence robot

The "Double" telepresence robot

Owned by Brian Buckler
Last updated: Jan 23, 2018

  • Pilot proposal for evaluation of the Double robot

  • https://www.doublerobotics.com/
  • Customer use-cases:
  • The Double is a remote control robot that allows someone to virtually move around an office environment as though they were present in the office.  It is a lightweight robot on wheels that uses an iPad as a virtual video talking head.  From a supported web browser, the person controlling the Double can control the movement, hear and see the robot's surroundings, and can talk via a speaker.  The person controlling the Double has a wide angle forward view and a picture-in picture view of what they look like to others in the iPad screen, and can also look down to view what is surrounding the foot of the robot.
  • Double robot setup, user instructions, and support:
  • How to drive the Double:
  • Anyone can test-drive a demo robot on the vendor's website.
  • Live test drive of a Double robot provided by the vendor (from a PC or Mac using Chrome or Firefox):
  • iOS apps (for driving the robot from an iOS device)
  • Having your own Double in the office means you can be free to roam around anywhere without having to schedule a meeting. Double takes everything you love about video calls on an iPad and puts that on a mobile base that puts the remote worker in control. Your Double is always on, ready to take you anywhere you need to go. Most offices have quite a bit of ad-hoc verbal communication throughout the day. How many of those little conversations do the remote workers miss? Typically, the remote worker is only contacted for higher priority items. This makes them second-class citizens, since they're not in the loop on many day-to-day activities. Double gives each remote worker a physical presence in the office all day, every day. They're there for the hallway conversations. You no longer need to say "can someone call Mary and let her know what we talked about?"  (from the Double website).
  • Computer Science Professor Judy Olson, and her PHD student Veronica Ahumada Newhart, have agreed to allow OIT to borrow a Double to evaluate for a couple of months because they are interested in how we find it to be useful to inform their research.
    • Judy's book: Working Together Apart: Collaboration over the Internet (Synthesis Lectures on Human-centered Informatics) 1st edition by Judith S. Olson (Author),‎ Gary M. Olson (Author)
      • Available here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Together-Apart-Collaboration-Human-centered/dp/1608450503/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512763213&sr=8-1&keywords=working+together+apart
      • Abstract:   Increasingly, teams are working together when they are not in the same location, even though there are many challenges to doing so successfully. Here we review the latest insights into these matters, guided by a framework that we have developed during two decades of research on this topic.

        This framework organizes a series of factors that we have found to differentiate between successful and unsuccessful distributed collaborations. We then review the kinds of technology options that are available today, focusing more on types of technologies rather than specific instances. We describe a database of geographically distributed projects we have studied and introduce the Collaboration Success Wizard, an online tool for assessing past, present, or planned distributed collaborations. We close with a set of recommendations for individuals, managers, and those higher in the organizations who wish to support distance work.

  • We will be setting up a pilot test program in OIT to evaluate how we might use the Double to enhance the effectiveness and collaboration of remote co-workers.
  • Tips for effective use of the Double for remote work/telecommuting: https://www.doublerobotics.com/business/Double-Guide-to-Telecommuting.pdf