Do you think the concept of social distancing is exaggerated because of Covid-19, which has descended upon the world like a dark cloud? Then this development might make you think a little more. The new VR/AR combination technology VROOM (Virtual Robot Overlay for Online Meetings), announced by the Microsoft Research team, allows you to be virtually present elsewhere in your life-size dimensions and, moreover, interact with the help of robots.

VROOM, as the name suggests, is being developed for online meetings and business purposes. They make this possible through remote connections for the distant person and the local space where the meeting takes place. For the local user, an augmented reality (AR) interface (e.g., HoloLens) displays a life-size avatar of the remote user overlaid on a telepresence robot. At the same time, for remote users, a head-mounted virtual reality (VR) interface offers a 360° view of the local space with mobile autonomy. In addition to displaying images, the VR system tracks the user’s head, body, and hand movements and transmits them to the robot. In this way, the remote user’s avatar appears as if it is truly in the meeting.

When I saw this news and video, the Star Wars series came to mind. Some of the Jedi holding meetings weren’t physically there, but they had holograms. If we assume the absence of virtual reality and augmented reality headsets, it’s a similar technology. Jokes aside, new technologies like VROOM, which most of us have only seen in research papers, seem to indicate that a different era is now beginning. As if we humanity hadn’t become alienated enough from each other, social distancing standards entered our lives with the recent coronavirus event.

From politicians to thinkers, artists to scientists, almost everyone is now talking about how nothing will ever be the same. When physical distances are added to the distances in our hearts, I also believe nothing will ever be the same…