More than ever before, people live away from where their family are/were based. Amongst the many difficulties this creates, we have the problem of visiting graves in a convenient way. Instead of travelling for hours for a 10 minute memorial, what if you could travel to the site virtually?

A virtual representation of the graveyard is unlikely to have the desired outcome. However, a real connection could be achieved using a telepresence robot that is provided by the cemetery.

This aspect could be a powerful selling tool for the entire mapping system, given that almost everyone would like a more efficient means of visiting their deceased relatives.

I just saw the Samsung NX Rover featured on the UK TV show Gadget Man (the Staycation episode), and it is similar to what I have envisioned for the future of telepresence robots. The main differences are that I would like the face/avatar face of the operator to appear where the head of the robot would be. And I am unsure if the flexibility of the camera needs to be so advanced – rotating and up/down should suffice. Anyway, great to see, and I can imagine this product being commercially available at some stage.

As far as I can tell, there must be people on location remotely steering the robot, and carrying it where its wheels won’t take it. If it can do stairs, I’d be mightily impressed.

While it is a long way from the perfect telepresence robot – which would be best controlled via a VR system – the existence and promotion of this device indicates to me that remote travel is something desirable. On Gadget Man, they were enjoying the view through an iPad, even though they were at the location in person…