Double Robotics Blog

Double Robotics is located in the Bay Area of California, where the local governments have ordered many business close until at least April 7th, 2020. However, they have explicitly defined one of the Essential Business types as:

Businesses that supply products needed for people to work from home

- SF.GOV

We are hearing from customers every day that Double helps them work from home, including in elderly homes and hospitals, and that our product is needed now more than ever. Much of our team is working from home (support, sales, R&D), but our small assembly team has agreed to continue operations and adhere to strict social distancing. We work in a large warehouse space that gives everyone ample distance from one another.

We will continue shipping backorders as quickly as possible. If you have an order in our queue and you can wait a little longer (e.g. your office or school is temporarily closed), please let us know, so we can ship to other customers with urgent needs first. There are some urgent orders that we are choosing to prioritize.

The first Double 3 units will be shipping out next week! The team is working hard through to holidays to ensure that every customer with an order receives their robot as soon as possible. Thank you again for your patience.

You can now remotely test drive Double 3! Try Click to Drive, Pan–Tilt–Zoom, and obstacle avoidance. Contact us to schedule an appointment: sales@doublerobotics.com

To our customers, 

Thank you again for your order of Double 3. We know that you’ve been waiting for your Double 3 Full Set or Head-only Upgrade to ship out for the last few weeks. Our team is working to ramp up production as quickly as possible, but we’re experiencing longer than expected lead times on certain components, which has pushed out our shipping schedule.

We do not have an exact ETA for when your unit will be shipped or delivered, but given the information we know at this time from our suppliers, shipping will begin in November. New orders today should ship sometime in December.

We have not started shipping Double 3 to any customers at this time, so you will be among the first to receive the new robot.

We appreciate your patience.

Thanks,

The Team at Double

New self-driving robot provides telecommuters and distance learners with high resolution, mixed-reality, mobile video chat.

Learn more at doublerobotics.com

Burlingame, Calif. - August 27, 2019 - Double Robotics today unveiled Double 3, the newest robot to increase productivity of remote workers and distance learners with self-driving and a completely new mixed-reality driver’s interface.  

The new Double hardware ditches the iPad and replaces it with a fully-integrated solution using the latest GPU technology in the Nvidia Jetson TX2, two Intel RealSense depth sensors, two high resolution cameras, and a beamforming microphone array.  The new hardware is combined with a new click-to-drive interface, obstacle avoidance, and pan/tilt/zoom video, to provide a fully-immersive remote experience to seasoned users as well as complete beginners.

“Double 3 represents a massive leap in technology for offices and schools, and it finally incorporates all of the top requests from our customers into one seamless, elegant solution,” said David Cann, co-founder and CEO at Double Robotics.

Self-Driving 

An array of 3D sensors enables Double 3 to understand its environment, where it's safe to drive, and how to divert around obstacles to reach the destination. Obstacle avoidance means that completely untrained drivers can drive Double 3 without fear of bumping into walls or people. 

Click-to-Drive Interface 

Dots are drawn on the floor where Double 3 can safely drive. The driver can click anywhere on the floor and the robot will go there, avoiding obstacles along the way. 

Mixed Reality Video 

Mixed Reality is like Augmented Reality, except virtual 3D objects are added into the video stream, and they look like they are placed in the real world. They help you understand what your Double can see, and they highlight important waypoints and objects of interest, such as the Charging Dock. 

Unified Pan-Tilt-Zoom Cameras 

Two 13 Megapixel cameras provide an ultra wide field of view and multiple levels of zoom. The cameras can physically tilt up and down, which is helpful for reading papers on a desk or zooming into a specific point. 

Improving Upon Double 2

Double 3 is fully integrated hardware, and no longer requires an iPad, like previous generations of Double.  Other features include an array of six microphones to help the driver hear people from farther away, and user-replaceable silicone rubber trim pieces with 5 colors available.  A developer API is available to allow custom applications to be written for Double.

Pricing & Availability

• Double 3 is available for order worldwide today, and the first batch of units will begin shipping late September. A package including Double 3 and the Charging Dock is priced at $3999 USD.  

• Double 3 will be available in the US and through the company’s twelve authorized distributors worldwide. 

• The new Double 3 Head is backwards compatible with Double 2 robot bases, and existing customers can purchase just the Head for $1999.

About Double Robotics

Double Robotics is the creator of Double, the world’s leading telepresence robot. Double is an two-wheeled, self-driving robot that gives people a physical presence at work or in school when they can’t be there in person. Founded in 2012 and a graduate of the startup accelerator Y Combinator, Double Robotics is a privately-held technology company headquartered in Burlingame, California. Visit www.doublerobotics.com for more information.

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Media Contact

Double Robotics

press@doublerobotics.com

(650) 713-2857

Double first appeared on Modern Family in 2015 when Phil wanted to be in two places at once. Double returned to the series last night in Season 10 Episode 20 "Can't Elope" to enable Phil's dad to attend an impromptu wedding!

The episode is available online today: https://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family

Kathleen Huun has authored an excellent article about virtual simulation in online nursing programs. Over the last 2.5 years, Huun has implemented a total of 16 robots for the undergraduate nursing simulation programs at Indiana State School of Nursing. Here's the abstract:

Simulation has become commonplace yet must be expanded for distance/online nursing students. Evidence-based simulation entities (e-simulations, video simulation, and telepresence simulation) provide asynchronous and synchronous options. For quality assurance, the selected modality is best when aligned with Quality Matters (QM™) standards in the form of component design standards for ease of student and faculty use. A variety of simulation modalities are reviewed for component (simulation) design to provide high-quality simulation aligned with course design, delivery, and objectives for online/distance nursing students.

The article is published in the Volume 22, September 2018 of the Clinical Simulation in Nursing journal. Huun will be presenting at the International Conference on Communication in Healthcare 2018 in Portugal this month.

BOSTON – The U.S. Attorney’s Office entered into a Voluntary Compliance Agreement today with Hudson Public Schools regarding its obligations to ensure effective communication for students with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).   

The agreement addresses how the auxiliary aids and services provisions of the ADA can be used in a school to enable a student with a disability to use remote technology to effectively communicate with other students and teachers and to participate in classroom instruction and other school activities. Specifically, the student had requested to use a “robot” device capable of seeing, hearing and moving around the classroom under the student’s remote control, allowing the student to be able to communicate with teachers and students and participate in interactive classwork.

Continue reading at justice.gov

New Technology Grants Will Help School Systems Serve Vulnerable Student Population

‘Peyton’s Law’ Paves Way for Remote Classroom Technology Statewide

BALTIMORE—A new program will bring important educational technology to all 24 Maryland school systems.

The Hogan Administration has authorized the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) to process $15,000 technology grants for each local school system. The program, a product of Peyton’s Law, which was signed by Governor Larry Hogan in 2017, will provide funds to systems for the purchase of remote classroom technology. The devices will allow students unable to attend class for extended periods to remain connected to their educational programs.

The first student in Maryland to use remote classroom technology is believed to be Peyton Walton, a Montgomery County student who used a telepresence robot while she was receiving radiation therapy to treat a rare type of cancer. While the robot Peyton used was paid for by her classmates and community members, the new grant should allow each county to purchase four robots according to fiscal estimates.

Go to the Maryland Department of Education News Room

At the International Robot Exhibition 2017 in Tokyo, Japan, Ricoh showed a prototype of their 180-degree stereo camera system mounted on Double. While this isn't integrated with Double software, it's a great example of engineers experimenting with the Double platform and inventing the future.

Geisinger Health System is partnering with Apple to introduce technology at each step of the patient's experience. In the video below, Double rolls in around 1:40 and highlights how they enable patients with chronic conditions to connect with the outside world.

To support the use of Doubles within the health system, Jeff Kay of CSIU and a physician at Geisinger collaborated on a research paper detailing how telepresence robots benefit hospital-bound children:

Mobile Robotic Telepresence Solutions for the Education of Hospitalized Children

About Geisinger: Geisinger is a physician-led healthcare system headquartered in Danville, PA. Their team of 30,000 employees across 13 hospital campuses serves a network of 583,000 plan members in the Eastern Pennsylvania/New Jersey area.