According to the article, they want to do it "the lean startup way".
So... why does it have to be self-balancing? Just add a third wheel and it's always stable - no need for gyros and complicated electronics. And as a by-product, you have immediately lowered the price massively: it's just a few motors then instead of that balancing magic. My price lowering guess would be between 50% and 80% lower. That would be really "the lean startup way" in my book.
Thanks for your thoughts, but the third wheel theory isn't actually true. We investigated this, of course, and a third wheel without balancing provides a pretty crummy and bumpy user experience. The key is reaching the magic human height while keeping the base no larger than a human's foot prints. Look at the VGo, they opted to limit their height to about 3' and add a third wheel, but the driver is always looking up at people's stomachs and up people's noses. It's awkward in a standing conversation and, even at that height, it's a bit shaky riding around - not to mention the extra counterweight they need to put in the base to weigh it down. Two wheeled, self balancing is simply a more elegant solution all around.
Also the extra cost of the accelerometer and gyro is almost negligible these days, thanks to smartphones requiring them to be made in such high volume. For both together, it's maybe $20 or less in volume.
Interesting, that clears up my reservations, thanks!
I feel like the biggest issues might be missing ambient spatial awareness for the user - with that non-wideangle lens and mono microphone you can't see the whole environment at once, you have no idea where somebody is talking from, and you cannot turn quickly enough to always track what's happening in a room, if people are leaving/entering etc.. How do you plan to make the user feel more "there"?
Also, micro-managing the movement of the bot would take up a lot of time that I don't have to spend when I'm present locally. E.g. when I'm present myself, I just look somewhere, then think "I want to go there" and it all happens automatically. With the bot, I have to manually navigate around plants and desks. It would be great if we could do the same thing with the bot: just touch on the screen where you want to go, and the bot figures out the rest. Or show a floor plan, touch where I want to go and the bot does it. Do you have plans in this direction?
So... why does it have to be self-balancing? Just add a third wheel and it's always stable - no need for gyros and complicated electronics. And as a by-product, you have immediately lowered the price massively: it's just a few motors then instead of that balancing magic. My price lowering guess would be between 50% and 80% lower. That would be really "the lean startup way" in my book.
(Idea courtesy of http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=segway_more_complicated_t...)