Smartipresence is a cardboard kit and robot that lets videocallers see what they want – and not up your nose

Telepresence robots aren’t new, but until now have been designed to move CEOs around boardrooms when they’re in fact elsewhere, eager for another round of golf. Smartipresence (from £15 / £50 with bundled Smartibot) brings the concept to the masses. It’s a cardboard kit that works on top of Smartibot, a flexible platform for building robots that works with your phone. The end result is a body for your blower that resembles a tiny cardboard forklift with a dinky grinning circuitboard clinging on like a limpet. But it’s versatile stuff, giving whoever’s making a call the chance to more fully interact with a kid on a playmat, or nose around the recipient’s abode. And because the kit’s extensible, ambitious users can expand on these foundations, adding chunky wheels, Lego claw grips, or a plastic motorised duck for when all you really want to commune with is nature.

Craig Grannell Contributor

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

Areas of expertise

Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.