Say Hello to the Telepresence Robot
The last two decades have seen a remarkable shift in communications infrastructure and usage patterns. For example, traditional landline telephone service is becoming more and more of a novelty as home and business users increasingly rely on mobile networks and digital home phone service (or VoIP) from providers like Acanac for some of their telecommunications needs.
In this blog, we’ll tell you about how you can expect the rate of change to accelerate even more and, as result, present amazing opportunities that we may have only thought possible in science fiction.
Since the co-mingling of voice, video and data is becoming commonplace across all user demographics and industries with the advent of teleconference and video conferencing on devices such as a Polycom, the evolution path of IP-based communication and connectivity will invariably be the key factor dictating usage patterns and future modes of interaction.
Now, although it may feel as though the Internet has penetrated all aspects of our lives, it actually has yet to penetrate the entire globe. Widespread adoption of the Internet still has some distance to go before becoming a reality, as most of the world’s population still lives “off-the-grid,” inaccessible to fiber and/or copper. In these cases, cellular and satellite networks are often the only means of reliable communication—and in those cases, quality of service can be lacking.
Enter Cisco.
Cisco launched IRIS (Internet Router in Space) a few years ago to evaluate the viability of natively routing voice, data and video traffic between satellites over a single IP network. These space routers (just as cool as it sounds) provide the ability to communicate via IP natively in space, without having to transmit data back to an Earth station for transmission. The implications of IRIS being commercialized open up so many amazing possibilities: inexpensive, high-quality/maximum bandwidth-capable High Speed Internet connections anywhere satellite penetration is available. With reliable broadband IP networks available via satellite (as opposed to terrestrially), the world will in the truest sense be “connected.”
So, if we will live in a future where IP-based communications are adopted on a global scale, we can expect to see related technologies that are currently prohibitively expensive become more commonplace and affordable.
Here’s where we get to robots.
The next evolution of communications will be immersive telepresence, allowing the highest level of human interactions to occur in the same space, regardless of geographic location. As IP networks become ubiquitous, technologies such as telepresence through VPN and video conferencing will be accessible to average consumers, allowing individuals to be everywhere and anywhere at once. We should expect to see the presence of an IP phone, IP camera or IP scanner on every desktop in this new reality- or perhaps…built in to a telepresence robot used to interface with others and bring donuts to the meeting.
Imagine the possibilities of hearing, seeing and controlling a telepresence robot fully equipped with a IP phone, IP camera or IP scanner in another location all the way across the world? The potential applications are absolutely mind blowing. Eat your heart out Wall-E.
At Acanac, we’re all about helping you stay connected without any of the hassles. We’re all about the simple pleasure of staying connected with the ones who matter most to you with full-featured Digital Home Phone and an expansive set of High Speed Internet options. Call or click today, it’s never been simpler to switch.
