When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found that he had been transformed in his bed into a little red robot
This product is one of the most uncanny things I have seen. The ConnectR is for visiting people while you are somewhere else, by way of a small red circular robot that you can remote control, and which transmits sound and video.
The parallels to Kafka’s The Metamorphosis are unbearable. You have been transformed into a small robot, and people will view you as such.
What would you use it for? According to the materials:
- Participate in family moments even though you’re working late
- On a business trip? Read your kids a story and see their faces light up
Fun and awkwardness ensues when everybody is seated at the table, but dad is stuck on the floor.
“Dad is busy, but he is visiting us as a vacuum-like red robot. Don’t step on him.”
It is such a downer to be the only avatar in the room.
October 18th, 2007 at 22:19
[...] The ConnectR is for visiting people while you are somewhere else You have been transformed into a small robot, and people will view you as such. (tags: robot identity communication paranoia) [...]
October 24th, 2007 at 17:42
I’m not sure which is more uncanny – the product’s existence itself, or the suggested use of “reading your kids a story”.
Next thing you know, we’ll be able to buy a Gregor Samsa hideous beetle skin(TM) for that robot.
November 1st, 2007 at 00:19
[...] The Ludologist » Blog Archive » When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found … Bizarre. Physical avatars for absent friends. (tags: robot presence community identity avatar) [...]
March 23rd, 2008 at 23:52
[...] Jesper links to and gives commentary on a physical avatar product, ConnectR, an iRobot product about to go on the market. Wow, that’s pretty cool, as well as difficult to believe people will like it. Then again, Roomba made it into the pilot of Knight Rider, so… [...]