However, there is one device people might not know about, which Brandon Beale of the Global Networks Operation Center at IU likes to call Hal and GlaDOS.
These two robots were purchased for the NOC to help perform tasks faster and more efficiently in terms of video chatting through an iPad. The only major difference is that the robots can move around when controlled.
The iPads are placed on a dock on a rolling contraption much like a Segway and were purchased from another ?company called Double ?Robotics.
One of these robots is in the NOC at IU-Bloomington, and the other one is in a facility much like the NOC at IU-Purdue University ?Indianapolis.
Using the robots is simple: when someone from IU-Bloomington wants to interact with someone from IUPUI and perhaps help them with a task, they log into the robot at IUPUI and control its movements from IU-Bloomington.
This allows them to roam every inch of the building at IUPUI if they choose to, making the art of video chatting far more advanced than many of us are used to.
“They’ve become very integrated and are a very ?practical tool we use on a regular basis,” Beale said.
These robots can be used not just for video conferencing, but for any situation that people don’t want to ?physically be in.
Beale remembered a time when a crime alert for an active shooter went off at IUPUI, and he logged into the robot there and was able to wheel around and warn the staff not to go outside. Beale was able to wheel anywhere he wanted, specifically to the windows to check out what was going on and see the police activity outside the building.
“I was at no risk — I mean if they shot the robot, that would suck,” Beale said.
Scott Chevalier, another staff member who uses the robots regularly, said the robots are efficient.
“It makes you feel like you actually are there,” he said.
So far, the only thing Hal and GlaDOS can’t do is open doors, which Chevalier said he can changing.
“We joke around about the robots and how they need to have an arm and a security tag on it so we can get in and out of doors,” he said.
Beale said sometimes people don’t realize how technologically advanced IU is.
“Indiana University is truly one of the cutting edge leaders in the world as it relates to ?networking,” Beale said.
