Types of Presence

Robots

No doubt there will be a wide variety of robots in the not-so-distant future. For the purposes of MapMerge I imagine just two. The first is a Delivery Robot that will function like the bicycle messengers and delivery vans of today.  They will most likely look more like R2D2 than C3PO. The other is the TelePresence Robot, already selling in Apple stores for $2500 , made by Double. Or Samsung’s NX Rover (not for purchase yet…), or iRobot’s Ava 500, or Beam Pro, or AnyBots, or VGO.

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There might be several screens facing different directions, and I suggest that they show the avatar face of the operator. When operating in the Now a halo would glow above the screen.

Clearly there will need to be some advances, like the ability to handle steps and uneven surfaces. Google’s Project Tango could be the answer. Countering robot theft will also be critical.

Avatars

My post at Smart Futures describes how a Real Avatar can work.

So, the idea is to enable people to use avatars in online 3D environments, but keeping their look close to reality. After being scanned, users can tweak their avatar as much as they like in terms of:

  • hair
  • clothes
  • skin color / complexion

Additionally, they can change one other part of their body, for example:

  • nose
  • breasts
  • butt
  • cheekbones
  • chin
  • biceps

You should be able to recognize someone in real life from knowing their avatar. But by changing the one thing that irks them the most about their looks/body, and giving everyone nice skin (tan optional), and an unlimited range of clothing and hairstyles, people will be tempted to play dress-up. With renewed confidence, while still being true to themselves, they will feel like meeting others in online environments.

The trick is finding the right balance between what you really look like, and customisation. I suggest the following additions:

  • your look can only change every so often, so that you are recognisable in continuing relationships. Perhaps 3 months is a good starting point.
  • you can have multiple outfits to choose from – perhaps two each for work, social, sports and formal.
  • your avatar is a seen in the Now as being 3 feet tall, with the top of the head always at 5 ft 6 above the ground. That way you won’t mistake them for real people (they are floating) and you can talk face to face.
  • when a real person is talking to an avatar in the now, the avatar’s head aligns to the same height as the person’s head.
  • avatars have a halo. The halo can be used as a colour-indicator, so perhaps red means you have paused, green means active and amber means a connection loss.

Otherwise avatars will be as life-like as technology allows. And research has shown that avatars that are closer to reality get the best responses.

Apple has a patent for creating a 3D avatar from a person’s photo.

Here are some places where you can create an avatar based on your actual face:

 

 

Real Person

Most likely a better nickname for this will emerge, but a Real Person is simply that. They are actually present, for real, in a real place. They can see robots for real, and avatars via special glasses.