TELECONFERENCING ROBOT WITH SWIVELING VIDEO MONITOR

摘要

This invention relates to an apparatus for the projection of a remote conferee's presence into a group meeting environment by usin a combination of videoconferencing/teleconferencing and robotics technology. The remote conferee's face is shown substantially life-size on a video monitor. The remote conferee's eyes appear to be looking directly at the viewer. The video monitor can turn left or right to point at the person speaking, automatically or by manual control, to give the impression that the remote conferee is turning his head to look at the person speaking. The video screen can be raised and lowered to give the impresison that the remote conferee is standing up and sitting down. An attention-getting mechanism prompts the attention of the other conferees when the remote conferee wants to interrupt or enter a conversation.