The Human Uber Is Every Introverts Dream
You know, if you’re into being a little weird.
There are people out there creating all sorts of robots, but sometimes robots just can’t cover the ground a human can. So in comes the ChameleonMask, a program in which is essentially a Human Uber, who basically wears an iPad on their face and takes you on a ride FaceTime style.
No, we’re not kidding.
ChameleonMask’s website describes themselves as the following:
“Chameleonmask is a telepresence system that shows a remote user’s face on the other user’s face. While most telepresence systems have been designed to provide a remote user’s existence with a teleoperated robot, the system uses a real human as a surrogate for another remote user. To do this, a surrogate user wears a mask-shaped display that shows a remote user’s live face, and a voice channel transmits a remote user’s voice. A surrogate user mimics a remote user by following the remote user’s directions. This design is based on our hypothesis assuming physical and social telepresence can be embodied by such a surrogate human who imitates the remote user. It also eliminates many difficulties of teleoperated robots wandering in the environment. Our pilot study confirmed that people could regard the masked person as a right person.”
So say, for example, you’re looking to go to Coachella, or Rock on the Range, or Burning Man, but you don’t like people or crowds, or the SMELLS for that matter. You basically could send someone in your place. Vice uses some examples like your son had a baseball game that you can’t make, so you send someone with a similar body type to go in your place with the ChameleonMask.
“Human Uber,” developed in Japan, provides a way to attend events remotely using another person’s body. “It’s surprisingly natural” says its inventor, Jin Rekimoto of Sony #emtechasia pic.twitter.com/WZHPVcZ6M0
— Will Knight (@willknight) January 30, 2018
Now the question begs – how does the person wearing the iPad see as they are walking? I’m sure that you probably would need some sort of AR screen in the inside to make sure you didn’t, y’know, trip and die. But either way, people might just have a desire for a more person-driven AI experience.
Amy Cooper is one with the force and the force is with her.
