iRobot spin-off Ava Robotics has announced the launch of its video telepresence robot, a chatty automation system that means you can take your work colleagues wherever you go.
Ava essentially transforms into a colleague when you’re on a group conference, with their face filling the screen, just like any other person sitting around the conference table. It’s almost as if they’re in the room with you and they can interact with you from across the country – or world if need be.
“Ava was born from the realization that true connections and trust do not get formed around the conference table, rather during one-on-ones and through everyday work experiences,” said Youssef Saleh, Ava Robotics CEO.
“We’ve drawn upon iRobot’s 27-year history in robotics innovation to deliver what we call ‘practical teleportation’, and we are pleased to be part of the Cisco ecosystem in bringing this solution to enterprise customers.”
Deeply embedded into the Ava robot is Cisco’s Spark unified comms technology and the company’s video tools too. This means anyone needing a mobile video conferencing system can be rest assured they’ll be able to jump on conference calls seamlessly.
“At Cisco, we believe the future of work is about what we do–not where we are,” said Snorre Kjesbu, vice president and general manager for the Cisco Meeting Room Systems Group.
“We’re passionate about bringing teams together so they can get great work done. Ava’s unique blend of autonomous robotics and Cisco’s award-winning collaboration portfolio will help teams work better together–no matter where they are.”
Ava Robotics was formed when two of iRobot’s employees decided to continue developing an idea first created at the company. The original Ava robot, produced seven years ago was a jack-of-all-trades robot, with one of its talents telepresence.
Those who believed telepresence was Ava’s calling decided to focus on those features and although iRobot still holds a minority stake in the company, it’s now a separate firm.
“Mobile video collaboration solutions such as Ava can have a dramatic impact on improving productivity and collaboration in a geographically diverse global enterprise,” said Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot.
“Leveraging a deep technical heritage from iRobot and the strong partnership with Cisco, Ava Robotics is uniquely suited to create an enterprise-grade robotic solution that will deliver on the promise of practical teleportation.”
