4 ms·

Full disclosure: I'm Stuart! I thought you guys might enjoy this. :-)

hanskuder 12y ago
Hi Stuart! I'm an engineer at Suitable Technologies (makers of the Beam). Sorry to see the Beam didn't make it into the video, but it was really inspiring to see this talk. Thanks!
- escapologybb 12y ago
  Hi! I've been using the Beam all over the world, it's amazing and I just wish I had one of my own. :-) (Probably need a ground crew and private plane as well!)
- escapologybb 12y ago
  The beam was actually in the talk, but would you believe about five minutes before the talk there was a local problem with the Wi-Fi. Totally not on Suitable Technologies by the way.
  - tlb 12y ago
    To properly support people videoing in, conferences will need to provided dedicated WiFi on a separate channel. Current conference WiFi is reliable enough for checking email during a boring talk, but not for remote attendees. It's hard to get conference venues to care. It might require an interpretation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (in the US) to insist that reliable WiFi to support remote video attendees is as important as reliable elevators.
    - escapologybb 12y ago
      I agree with what you're saying in general. In this specific case, the venue WiFi was not the issue. It was human error on the day, but not something we need to rake over here. However, is a really interesting point about the reliable Wi-Fi in public spaces. If telepresence is going to be used as a viable way for quadriplegics like me to visit these public spaces, then we're going to need decent and dedicated Wi-Fi. Which in 2014 is both fairly easy to do, and not that expensive. But you're right, I do fear that it may need some Interpretation of legislation to make this work. In the UK we have to Disability Discrimination Act [0] which I think of is the same things as the ADA in the US. [0]:http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/the-disability-discrimination-act-dda http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/the-disability-discrimination-act...
      - lyricalpolymath 12y ago
        Totally agree on the need of dedicated connections... for many reasons ;) however often a problem with conferences and large gatherings is that even if there are separate Wifis and on different channels the (constructive/destructive) interference is still bad enough that the connection slows down anyways. I know there are solutions out there, it's a matter of cost and time before they become widely available. (I'm hoping it will happen tomorrow ;))
        andrewnez 12y ago
        The drone was actually running on the same wifi as the beam and had no issues btw (I setup the drone at the event)
        escapologybb 12y ago
        Forgot to mention that, the drone works like a dream!
tlb 12y ago
I'm very happy to hear that this tech is doing something useful for you. We want to make it better. (I was the founder of Anybots, and know a lot of other people in the telepresence and drone worlds.) It's great that you're telling your story, because it's much more motivational for people working on the tech than some of the current popular use cases, like managers walking the cubicle farm while traveling.
- escapologybb 12y ago
  It really is doing amazing things for me, is opening up places in worlds that would be utterly denied to me were not for these telepresence robots. For example, even if the museum has a ramp into the building, every single step between where I am and the Museum needs to be wheelchair friendly. One high kerbstone and that's me not visiting the Museum. Telepresence solves this problem wonderfully! If you know anyone looking for a freewheeling, quadriplegic, telepresence and drone-based beta tester just point them my way. :-)

Hi Stuart! I'm an engineer at Suitable Technologies (makers of the Beam). Sorry to see the Beam didn't make it into the video, but it was really inspiring to see this talk. Thanks!

escapologybb 12y ago
Hi! I've been using the Beam all over the world, it's amazing and I just wish I had one of my own. :-) (Probably need a ground crew and private plane as well!)
escapologybb 12y ago
The beam was actually in the talk, but would you believe about five minutes before the talk there was a local problem with the Wi-Fi. Totally not on Suitable Technologies by the way.
- tlb 12y ago
  To properly support people videoing in, conferences will need to provided dedicated WiFi on a separate channel. Current conference WiFi is reliable enough for checking email during a boring talk, but not for remote attendees. It's hard to get conference venues to care. It might require an interpretation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (in the US) to insist that reliable WiFi to support remote video attendees is as important as reliable elevators.
  - escapologybb 12y ago
    I agree with what you're saying in general. In this specific case, the venue WiFi was not the issue. It was human error on the day, but not something we need to rake over here. However, is a really interesting point about the reliable Wi-Fi in public spaces. If telepresence is going to be used as a viable way for quadriplegics like me to visit these public spaces, then we're going to need decent and dedicated Wi-Fi. Which in 2014 is both fairly easy to do, and not that expensive. But you're right, I do fear that it may need some Interpretation of legislation to make this work. In the UK we have to Disability Discrimination Act [0] which I think of is the same things as the ADA in the US. [0]:http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/the-disability-discrimination-act-dda http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/the-disability-discrimination-act...
    - lyricalpolymath 12y ago
      Totally agree on the need of dedicated connections... for many reasons ;) however often a problem with conferences and large gatherings is that even if there are separate Wifis and on different channels the (constructive/destructive) interference is still bad enough that the connection slows down anyways. I know there are solutions out there, it's a matter of cost and time before they become widely available. (I'm hoping it will happen tomorrow ;))
      - andrewnez 12y ago
        The drone was actually running on the same wifi as the beam and had no issues btw (I setup the drone at the event)
        escapologybb 12y ago
        Forgot to mention that, the drone works like a dream!

tlb 12y ago

I'm very happy to hear that this tech is doing something useful for you. We want to make it better. (I was the founder of Anybots, and know a lot of other people in the telepresence and drone worlds.) It's great that you're telling your story, because it's much more motivational for people working on the tech than some of the current popular use cases, like managers walking the cubicle farm while traveling.

escapologybb 12y ago
It really is doing amazing things for me, is opening up places in worlds that would be utterly denied to me were not for these telepresence robots. For example, even if the museum has a ramp into the building, every single step between where I am and the Museum needs to be wheelchair friendly. One high kerbstone and that's me not visiting the Museum. Telepresence solves this problem wonderfully! If you know anyone looking for a freewheeling, quadriplegic, telepresence and drone-based beta tester just point them my way. :-)