STAY IN BED AND PAY SOMEONE TO WEAR YOUR FACE WITH CHAMELEONMASK
Well, now you can stay day in bed while getting someone else to do your dirty work. Seriously, you won’t even need to get out of bed. Jun Rekimoto, the creator of ChameleonMask and director of Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc., wants you to be able to take it easy in life. ChameleonMask is a human Uber. A screen in attached to a human, as in a surrogate body, with a screen attached to their face. But your face is on the screen. Complicated? Not at all. You are basically renting a body instead of a droid. You’re paying someone to be your Avatar in the real world!
AVATAR A SURROGATE BODY WITH YOUR FACE ON A SCREEN
Developed in Japan, the human Uber offers you the option to attend anything remotely by using someone else’s body. If someone was carrying your baby instead of you, that would be called a surrogate. You are borrowing a body so that you can be wherever you need to be, without physically getting your body involved. So, that’s basically what it is; a surrogate body. Rekimoto explains on his website, “To do this, a surrogate user wears a mask-shaping display that shows a remote user’s live face, and a voice channel transmits a remote user’s voice.” The remote user works with a video-enable tablet which is attached to the front of the surrogate’s mask. The surrogate sees the same thing through a concealed mobile phone while you stay in bed.
NO ROVING ROBOTS, JUST LIKE SKYPE BUT WITH A PAID STRANGER WEARING YOUR FACE
It’s essentially Skype or Facetime, but with a paid stranger wearing your face so you can stay in bed for as long as you please. Comparable telepresence has existed but with roving robots. The ChameleonMask is different, because it doesn’t use droids. They’ve done several pilot tests in government offices, in order to pick up a document and they seem to be successful. But so far no one has set an official launch for this fascinating use of a surrogate body. But once it is out, you can start planning to party and enjoy life a little bit more. Someone will need to wear your face in order for you to do so. So get ready to hire your own real-life Avatar!
Just think about how this could change school, work, meetings with people you hate. The possibilities are endless.
