I came across this video in the tubes today. A telepresence platform built in 1996 — primarily using off-the-shelf, simple technologies. Like the remains of an electronic weelchair after a nuclear holocaust, retrofitted with a tube-screen, wheels and accompanying wireworks — the chassis screams retrofuturism galore.

As described on Marque Cornblatt’s page, the creator of the “Sparky” platform:

The early version of the robot used 2 sets of low-powered video transmission (similar to a baby monitor) and RC toy airplane controls to create a live face-to-face video interaction on a rolling chassis.

They show a conceptual CGI model of Sparky2 in the video below as well, which I find boring. My vote goes to the first and totally awesome design. Brazil all the way!

Telepresence has been a long time in the making, but we’re finally starting to see some viable platforms emerging paralell to the advances in A.I. and robotics. I have my eye on Spyke from Meccano/Erector, who works through the wireless network to provide a 1-way video conversation through a browser interface, amongst other things.