Nokia’s latest foray into random blue sky projects is Jeppe – a little robot that they claim could revolutionise video chat.
Looking something like a remote controlled car and a drab ladybird, Jeppe can wheel his little way about (not unlike a Roomba robo-vacuum) under remote control or via an array of sensors and simple AI, giving you a robot’s eyeview of the people in your home or office.
A two-way audio link and video camera lets you chat to them – you see their (presumably startled) faces and they see.. a little grey robot.
Jeppe is meant to be expressive and able to communicate in gestures as well as your voice. Personally, I would find this cute for about ten minutes and then it would start to get a bit creepy. Check out this video clip and judge for yourself.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STDxF6AxwKU[/youtube]
Currently, Jeppe works with a Nokia N800 internet tablet, but there is no reason it couldn’t happily talk to a well-specced N-Series smartphone.
Related articles:
- Review: Qik Share Live Video (Symbian)
Get your live video streaming on the Qik With the... - Nokia’s location-based chat beta
Nokia Chat is the latest escapee from the Nokia Beta... - Why would you want video chat on an iPhone?
As co-founder of tech site Digg, Kevin Rose is pretty... - YouTube video conversion with ByWiFi
The spate of YouTube players for Symbian and Windows Mobile... - Video guide: Gmail mobile application
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how...
About Stuart Houghton
I heard a lot about video conferencing going around these days. Back then 1999 I never thought I will ever see this innovation which I only seen it first in Jetsons and Star Trek.