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The robot needs to be recharged at the end of every work day. Until recently, this required a
Waterloo co-worker to plug it in before leaving for the night. In May 2008, Ian constructed a charging bay out of lumber that Ivan "drives" into - copper bars attached to the robot connect to copper springs
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In May 2007, Ivan started using Ian's full version daily. The full version of IvanAnywhere consists of a wheeled base with 24-volt SuperDroid Robots motors. The motor and wheel assemblies support "tank drive" so that Ivan can negotiate through doorways and meeting rooms more easily. Above the motors
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with a speaker, which was kept in the corner of the office. The problem with this method was that the webcam was just that – stationary. Ivan could not see people if they were not standing near the webcam. More frustrating, perhaps, was that Ivan could hear distant conversations through the webcam's
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database server. One of the tasks of the SQL Anywhere database is to retain monitoring statistics on a wide variety of controls and sensors on the robot. This is so that Ian can monitor how far the robot travels in any particular period, how many times the proximity sensors have halted the robot's
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November 2006, iAnywhere programmer Ian McHardy and Director of Engineering Glenn Paulley (Ivan’s immediate manager) conceived the idea of IvanAnywhere after Glenn saw a television commercial for a remote controlled toy blimp. In January 2007, after considering different possible designs and
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on the charging unit which are directly connected to the battery charger and enabled through a relay circuit so that the charging bars are not live unless the robot is in the bay. The charging bay permits Ivan to recharge the robot at his convenience, and without assistance.
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A 1.5 meter (5 foot) aluminum bar supports a webcam with a gray foam ball mounted above it. The robot is equipped with a webcam, speakers, microphone, and a tablet computer with a live feed from Bowman's webcam to help coworkers to communicate with him more naturally.
42:. The robot enables Bowman to be virtually present at conferences and presentations, and to discuss product development with other developers face-to-face. IvanAnywhere is powered by SAP's mobile database product,
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Using speakerphone during meetings was less than ideal because Ivan could not see his co-workers' visual communication clues, or what they wrote on the white board. The first solution was a stationary
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February 2007, even though the truck was challenging to drive and the webcam was only a few inches above the floor, Ivan was able to successfully drive the proof-of-concept from Halifax.
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October 2007, a digital camera was mounted on the bar so that Ivan could take high-resolution pictures of whiteboards, presentation slides, and overheads, or just look out the window.
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Although most of Bowman's colleagues treat IvanAnywhere as one of their own, people who aren't used to the robot are sometimes uncomfortable talking to it instead of a human being.
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Ivan "drives" the robot from his home office in
Halifax using a two-joystick PC gaming console. One joystick controls the webcam, the other the robot's drive system.
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Ivan Bowman has been a software developer at Sybase/iAnywhere/SAP since 1993, and now is an
Engineering Director at SAP Canada. In 2002 his wife received a job in
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sits a box filled with wires, various electronics, and batteries which power the robot for a full work day. The entire robot weighs approximately 40 kg.
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IvanAnywhere is very popular with other people in the building and the SAP Engineering floor has become a regular stop on visitor tours of the SAP building.
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microphone, but was unable to contribute to the conversation if the impromptu meeting did not take place in his visual range.
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getting through a number of deadlines related to iAnywhere releases, Ian started working on a proof-of-concept: a
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motion, the robot's network connectivity uptime, and other related statistics.
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approximately 2,000 km (1,200 mi) from his place of work in
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programmers to enable their co-worker, Ivan Bowman, to efficiently
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CBC Radio: Nora Young interviews Ivan on 6 September 2012
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keep the robot from bumping into walls and cubicles.
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and webcam mounted on a radio-controlled toy truck.
349:Video: Techwave 2008 'From the Inside' competition
78:initially via email, instant messenger, and phone.
307:Guardian Unlimited: The Worker You Have to Plug In
288:Christian Science Monitor: Send Your Robot To Work
283:THE GLOBE AND MAIL, Careers section, July 11, 2008
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125:The tablet PC mounted on IvanAnywhere runs a
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334:Video: Episode 2 - IvanAnywhere gets a puppy
339:Video: Episode 3 - IvanAnywhere meets Ivan
329:Video: Episode 1 - 2008: A Sybase Odyssey
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312:The Chronicle Herald: Ivan the mobile
253:Jeffrey, Davene (28 September 2007).
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196:Walcoff, Matt (13 September 2007).
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20:Ian and IvanAnywhere in a meeting
198:"The worker you have to plug in"
161:Computer-supported collaboration
376:Annotated image of IvanAnywhere
74:. His employers allowed him to
27:is a simple, remote-controlled
324:IvanAnywhere's YouTube channel
227:Gaylord, Chris (23 May 2008).
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302:The Record: Meet IvanAnywhere
233:The Christian Science Monitor
408:Telecommunications equipment
147:Challenges of Being a Robot
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229:"Send your robot to work"
50:IvanAnywhere evolution
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381:2013-03-25 at the
364:2010-12-27 at the
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127:SQL Anywhere
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106:Full version
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29:telepresence
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403:Biorobotics
259:Herald News
166:Homeshoring
76:remote work
40:remote work
34:created by
392:Categories
172:References
379:Archived
362:Archived
297:YES Mag
155:See also
117:Infrared
60:Waterloo
293:YES Mag
64:Ontario
56:Halifax
264:15 May
238:15 May
207:15 May
83:webcam
68:Canada
32:robot
266:2013
240:2013
209:2013
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