Beaming News
USC Researcher Uses a Robot as a Real Roving Reporter
Telepresence experiment studies how interview subjects in Spain will respond to questions posed by a robot being operated in LA
Via: http://ict.usc.edu/news/press-releases/usc-researcher-uses-a-robot-as-a-...
Who/What: Researcher Nonny de la Peña, a pioneering immersive journalist and USC Ph.D student who is exploring how new technologies can be used in journalism, is going to be interviewing researchers and activists in Spain via a robot. De la Peña will be operating the robot wearing a motion capture suit (like the ones used in Avatar) at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies’ Mixed Reality Lab in Playa Vista. Her movements and interactions will be relayed into the robot, which will be in Spain with the interview subjects. Her gestures and gaze will be replicated by the robot, in order to create a communication experience that goes beyond talking on a phone or using Skype.
Why: Aside from being interesting topics (the AIDS researchers’ breakthroughs and the Catalan independence movement), this is an experiment in telepresence – exploring what it means to have the reporter in the room (as a robot) interviewing the subjects in Spain from the lab here in LA. This project is part of a larger EU-funded research investigating how a person can visit a remote location feel fully immersed in the new environment. Will a reporter get to “go” to the moon next? Travel to a dangerous frontline story during a revolution? Walk the bottom of the ocean? To our knowledge, this will be the first time a reporter is driving a robot to do an interview. Talk about advancing the story!
BEAMING special session at Eurographics 2013
The BEAMING Project is organising a special session at this years Eurographics conference to be held in Girona on May 8th 2013. The session is open to all and will showcase Beaming technology and applications developed in the project.
‘Emerging Legal Issues with Remote Presence Technologies’ workshop
A workshop, ‘Emerging Legal Issues with Remote Presence Technologies’ was held at the Faculty of Laws, University College London (UCL) on the 5th November 2012. The workshop, which was held as part of the BEAMING project, was the first of its kind to look at this technology and these issues from a l
BEAMING Legal and Ethical Workshop, Wednesday October 10th 2012
On Wednesday, 10th October the BEAMING Consortium met for a workshop on the ethical and legal implications of researching and developing BEAMING and BEAMING-like technologies.
The workshop began with a brief introduction from Patrick Haggard about the importance of integrating ethical and legal issues into the core research activity of any project developing new technologies. The aim of the workshop was to help the Consortium think about what type of issues BEAMING might raise and how we could address them.
Beaming into the Rat World: Enabling Real-Time Interaction Between Rat and Human Each at their Own Scale
Research published in PLOS ONE today by BEAMING researchers at the EventLAB in Barcelona shows how we can seamlessly beam from human scale to rat scale and vice versa.
Read more here: dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0048331
You can also watch the video on Beaming's YouTube Channel: http://youtu.be/tdo08is9Xw0
BEAMING featured on the European Commissions's Digital Agenda Website
Forget about crackly lines or blurry webcams. Video conferencing has just got a whole lot better.
By combining robotics, video and a host of other sensor and display technologies, European scientists can now virtually 'beam' you to locations on the other side of the globe. It may sound like science fiction, but this new approach can make it feel like you are really 'there'!
Continue reading: http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/beam-me-my-meeting
BEAMING on local TV in Barcelona
BEAMING featured on local TV in Barcelona (Catalan)
Local journalist tries out Beaming for an interview with researchers at the EventLAB.
Mel Slater, BEAMING technical manager, interviewed in London by journalist "beaming" in from Barcelona
Josep Corbella, a jounalist with the LaVanguardia in Barcleona, took advanatge of the BEAMING platform to interview Mel Slater in London.
The full interview (in spanish) can be found here:
www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20120520/54296167703/teletransporte-barcelona-londres.html
BEAMING put to the test by the BBC
Dr Mavi Sanchez-Vives Beams from Barcelona to London to be interviewed by the BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones.
www.bbc.com/news/technology-18017745
In a related piece about "Real-world beaming: The risk of avatar and robot crime"
BEAMING presented as part of the Barcelona Neuroscience "Secrets of the Brain" series.
120 members of the public turned out to hear researchers from UBs EventLab present "Tele-transporting yourself is now possible" as part of Barcelona's year of Neuroscience. www.bcn.cat/neurociencia/index_en.html
