This Japanese Robot Travels For You And Transmits 2k Video

With the advancement of technology comes an increase in convenience, and this Japanese airline is promising to abolish one of the biggest inconveniences there are: travelling. For healthy, young people, sitting on an airplane for 10 hours is a slightly cramped adventure, but for people with illnesses, disabilities, or other circumstances that make travelling difficult, 10 hours on an airplane can be harrowing. Enter the Newme: a robot that can does the travelling for you.

Posted by nightqueen

Japan's biggest airways, All Nippon Airways (ANA), has probably seen it's fair share of people who are uncomfortable when travelling. As always, the Japanese are on top of the convenience game - or just the invention game at large. Many useful things that are a part of our daily lives were invented by the Japanese. This new robot may become another indispensable part of our lives, but only time will tell.

Via Giphy
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So what is the Newme? Well, it's not much more than what you see in the GIFs: a five foot tall tablet on wheels. It transmits high definition 2k video, and it's able to be controlled remotely by the tablet on the user's end. It's also able to be used with a VR headset, which allows the user to be more present (though how they communicate with people on the other end while wearing a headset is a question).

Via Giphy
The idea of helping physically challenged people travel to other places is nice, but I doubt the robot's mobility beyond moving around flat, uncluttered rooms. Those wheels are small, and it definitely can't climb the stairs alone. Unless the Newme is being assisted, I don't believe that it could "travel" as ANA likes to suggest.
The idea of it is great, but I'll stick to Whatsapp video calls for now. But if the tablet was attached to the face of Atlas, the parkour robot - now that would be a different story.

Via Giphy