Steve Gray of Orbis Robotics and CARL
The Big Bang Theory TV show and the Baldo comic strip both feature video robots that provide eyes, ears, voice, face and movement for someone controlling the unit from a distance. CARL from Orbis Robotics brings this science-fiction concept of a virtual presence to reality at funerals, arrangement conferences and visitations.
President Steve Gray named his invention after his father, who didn’t live to see the fruition of his son’s vision for a telepresence robot. At the expo, a young man in San Diego operated the unit in Nashville. He could see and talk to expo visitors, and they could talk to him. He could also move the CARL unit by joystick command.
When making funeral arrangements, people who are at a distance can participate in the conversation. Used at a funeral, the robot can roll up to individuals to facilitate conversation or over to a casket to view the body. Someone could even deliver a eulogy via CARL.
CARL makes it possible for distant loved ones to be there for a funeral and participate, whether they are too ill to travel, can’t afford to travel, can’t get time off work or leave from the military. Anyone with a personal computer and Internet access can log onto CARL and teleport themselves to the funeral home. A connection by Skype can handle up to six callers simultaneously.
Get the full story through the video below, and learn more at www.OrbisRobotics.com.
Recorded at the 2014 National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) Convention and Expo in Nashville, Tennessee by Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death®, host and author of the award-winning TV show and book, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die.