Blimp Telepresence

blimp avatar from Jim Giles on Vimeo.

The next time somebody says,"You aren't all here today" they could be absolutely correct. The clip above gives us a peek into the future where a commute to work is optional. Even if you do decide to show up at the office, you should expect to find yourself surrounded by ghosts of co-workers. (Well, not really ghosts but small blimps that wander about the room.)

This Telepresence design is the work of Tobita Hiroaki and colleagues at Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Tokyo. According to  the article:

Hiroaki's blimp, which can be steered by small propellers mounted on a gondola below the balloon, can glide up stairs and float over desks. "There's huge potential here," he says.

Undoubtedly the idea of a airborne tele-worker has some important benefits, apart from commute time and energy. For example, savings in reduced lighting, heating and cooling of the office.  Why have windows at all, come to think of it. (Somebody leaves a window open and you lose half of your staff to a gust.)

I'm afraid I am still not evolved enough to constantly remember that my PC is also watching me. With my mouth hanging open like a chasm of Hell, my blimp face could easily be mistaken for a zombie.

In any case, I'm sure that I'd waste a lot of time, floating  around the building- getting myself permanently trapped in elevators or behind doors. Trapped in suction of ventilation ducts. That happens to me a lot, even in real life.

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