Today, Co-Founder and COO, Tom Ryden, is at the Mass Technology Leadership Council’s Future of Robotics Summit being held at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge, MA.

There will be many presentations from New England area professors, including Holly Yanco of University of Massachusetts – Lowell, who will be showing off “Hugo” – a VGo Robotic Telepresence System that they purchased and augmented during their research. 

The top half of the VGo has been modified with a light-up LED tie used to indicate the robot’s status.  Researchers Katherine Tsui and Munjal Desai, also of UMass, worked with Holly to study ways that Telepresence robots can be used in an office environment.  “Hugo” was also featured in an article my Mission Critical earlier this fall entitled, Robotics at the Water Cooler and at Home; Using Telepresence Robots to Make the Workplace, Home Life More Flexible.  In addition to the workplace, the Katherine is also studying how Telepresence robots can benefit people who are hospitalized, by connecting them with their families in distant locations.

In the last few weeks, we have seen an interesting parallel between modern technology and a centuries old legend of the "Pied Piper."  With it's sleek lines and unimposing stature, VGo turns heads wherever it goes, and children are often the most intrigued by the robotic device.  

Our CEO, Peter Vicars, was toting along his VGo down the street on his way to a meeting in Boston one morning when he was bombarded by questions from kids in a school yard. "Hey mister, what's that?" called the kids.  Peter turned to see that he - or more accurately, VGo - had attracted quite a following.  "I felt like the Pied Piper," he told us when he arrived at the office.