Vgo: Another Player in the Remote Presence (Mobile Telepresence) Game

June 1, 2010 by Travis Deyle

The Boston Globe has unearthed another solid player in the remote presence (sometimes referred to as mobile telepresence or mobile videoconferencing) game. This time, it is the Vgo (pronounced Vee-Go) robot from Vgo Communications. Apparently Vgo Communications was founded in 2007 by Tim Root and has upwards of $8M in venture capital funding. The Vgo robot is pretty sleek with a nice cosmetic shell, though it seems a bit vertically challenged. Its target price-point is somewhere around $5000, with a required $1200 annual support contract. This comes just days after Anybots made their QB robot announcements ($15,000 ea.) and after some high-profile Willow Garage Texai events. A few other major players have been relatively quiet as of late, such as InTouch Health and Giraff Technologies (formerly HeadThere).

Here are some photos and a video of the Vgo.

Vgo Communications Remote Presence Robot

[Via GetRobo]

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Comments

June 1, 2010
7:06 am

The video is interesting. Seems like the platform isn't particularly stable when accelerating. You could almost see/hear the back wheels lift off the ground when it was driving away and suddenly slowed down (about 1:01 in video). At least it looks pretty light (in terms of weight), that would be a plus if it is going to fall on people sometimes.

—Marc Killpack

June 27, 2010
5:19 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfAB79coKGA

Another remote presence robot.

-Enes Dayangac

—Enes (not verified)

December 18, 2010
8:20 am

This robot is awesome, especially the little path it follows along the floor. What would be really cool is if they could use this in a healthcare setting. I recently read about a company called C PORT Solutions - online at www.cportsolutions.com - that is doing this very same thing, taking new ideas and combining them to form a unified collaboration experience by using the latest mobile technology. Working with Polycom now, they are developing healthcare and hospitality solutions that will change the corporate environment. If you could somehow combine the robotic experience talked about in this article (even just rolling down the hall itself) with the new platforms that C PORT is delivering, we would all greatly benefit.

—Nate (not verified)

December 19, 2010
3:30 pm

@ Nate,

There was a Hizook post not long ago that looked at these other telepresence robots: Vgo, Tilr, Texai, RP-7, QB, and Giraffe. You might find it interesting.

—Travis Deyle

January 9, 2011
11:42 pm

Pilot Presence just posted a CES 2011 video of Vgo Communications' founder and inventor Brad Kayton discussing the Vgo telepresence robot. One of the most interesting things from the video is that Palantir Health and Orbitz are two of Vgo's customers.

—Travis Deyle

Vgo: Another Player in the Remote Presence (Mobile Telepresence) Game

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