Features

One requirement of any “telepresence” solution is ease of use. For the system to be successful, both the remote user and the expert must be able to use the equipment without a lot of thought and after only minimal training–providing a solution that integrates quickly and easily into the operation’s problem-solving methodology.

Another requirement is complete portability and hands-free operation. The remote user must be free to move about unencumbered, and have the full use of her hands to perform tasks as directed by the expert. The solution should also provide a compelling return on investment.

There is also a “payback” curve in effect that says the next set of improvements over current capabilities will probably yield a bigger payback than the ones that follow. The next big payback in this space will be achieved via integration of compelling technology already in the lab.

One advance will occur when remote, real-time collaboration opportunities are afforded the ability to use vision coupled with mobility as a key component. When the collaborators can “move” together through the remote collaboration “space,” seeing and discussing the issues in real time, the effectiveness of the collaboration increases over the legacy technique of talking over a traditional phone.

Another jump in effectiveness is achieved by enabling the collaborator to control aspects of the remote collaboration space. This simultaneously speeds up the process (allowing the remote person to change aspects of the environment remotely, immediately observing the effects, rather than asking for it to be done) and allows the other collaborator to operate more hands free.

When vision and remote-control capabilities are augmented further by the ability to collect and dispense large amounts of data, another jump up the payback curve is achieved. For example, if two people are collaborating about an issue related to a machine and they can see the machine together, can hear it and can view data collected from it, their ability to work together jumps over merely being able to talk about it.

Many face-to-face collaboration opportunities today are also billable opportunities, as is seen in service technician and doctor consultations. Remote, real-time collaboration technologies are evolving that accommodate the accountability needed to support billing for aspects of the collaborations. Much of this interaction requires archiving all of the media (video, audio and data) for later review in many formats, along with a means to efficiently retrieve, transport, protect and store it.

Future collaboration solutions will benefit from “presence” technology, which will help track what people are available for collaboration, where they are and what their current status is, as well as the ability to categorize the expertise of the people present and the intelligence to act on that knowledge to connect the right people.

An important improvement required to fully support collaboration involves providing comprehensive responsiveness. Future collaboration applications should create a sense of true interactivity. Communication between people (and/or machines) is a constant, fine-grained, transactional process. This process is reciprocal in nature, with both the senders and receivers of data affecting each other simultaneously.

The process is also “rules based” and personal. Different people experiencing the same identical communication will process (interpret) it differently based on their own personal rules. Supporting this level of interactivity requires moving beyond file-sharing metaphors enjoyed by current collaboration tools.

A major opportunity to enhance responsiveness is associated with providing user-guided, autonomous control in close physical proximity to the occurrence of events. This implies that the “rules” that people use to interpret and respond to events be captured from a user and delivered to the place where the event activity is taking place. Some classes of events may then be handled locally without burdening the communication system. These classes will become more prevalent as the market opens to interaction with intelligent machines.

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This article was provided by Pete Ianace, CEO of ESPRE Solutions, Plano, Texas.