Recent visitors to the Anchorage Museum have been startled to encounter a robotic host rolling through the galleries and having conversations with them. The new "telepresence robot" is a four-foot-tall gizmo that looks like a vacuum cleaner with a computer screen on top.
In early February, the Anchorage Museum bought the Beam+ telepresence robot, which can be operated via laptop from anywhere in the world and connect with viewers in remote locations. Diana Montano of Museum Hack beamed in on Feb. 23 from New York to take a tour with museum staffers Doug Adams and Lindsay Garrod.
The museum is still experimenting with the new toy, figuring out the various cameras, sensors and uses for the bot. After Montano got too close to one of the display cases, the bot notified her that "driving is disabled."
"We're working out the kinks with this thing," said Adams. After a visit from a Beam+ representative, Adams realized the bot doesn't have a proximity sensor, which would allow a user to remotely move around the museum without an escort.
Museum personnel hope to use the robot to conduct virtual tours of displays and research material. They also plan to ask visitors to help come up with a name for it.