That was the key; those interactions that I craved in the hospital were the same that many missed during the pandemic. The robot could provide that for me in a way that Zoom classes never could.
Chiu was not the only one to acknowledge the changes that Covid-19 has made to the world of telepresence robots. Simon Strauss, currently head technical support expert at Vecna, the company that designed the VGo, observed a difference as well. Simon Ommundsen, an innovation director and former UX designer at No Isolation, explains to me why this choice was made.
The comfort of the user seemed to be one of the primary concerns of the AV1’s design. Ommundsen went on to describe how the AV1 made sure that kids wouldn’t have to feel pressured to attend class. “If you're not feeling well, if you need to disconnect for a while, if you're in the hospital and something happened, you can just do so and reconnect without the teacher having to really do anything,” he said.
Or.... hear me out..... just LEAVE YOUR HOME AND HANG OUT WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY! More people 'die suddenly' after the vax than the current strain going around.