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Zoom calls during COVID-19 pandemic inspire designer to develop inexpensive telepresence robot
COVID-19 pandemic.Ross Atkin from London has been designing toy robots for five years.During the COVID-19 lockdown, he felt like he could improve the experience of family Zoom calls by tweaking the design of one of his toys. Zoom fatigue? How to tell loved ones you don’t want to video chat The new robot combines a cellphone app with a small cardboard robot, to put someone in charge of what they see on a video call.“Having a video call is nothing like being with someone, because you’re stuck in this little rectangle (cell phone), and you are completely dependent on what they’re doing with their rectangle,” said Atkin, a self-confessed design geek.“So what the robot does is it allows you to move yourself around in their environment.