"Meet ROVIO"

http://www.meetrovio.com/

Back in the late '80s OMNI magazine had an article about the different ways future-tech would let us explore our world. One of their concepts was for a robot with sound & vision capabilities that you accessed remotely.

Instead of spending the time & energy to physically drag your carcass around the world you'd get to experience it all from the comfort of your couch. Instead of going to Paris, or Peru, or Papua New Guinea you would rent for a few hours a robot that would allow you to stroll the Champs-Élysées or scale the Great Pyramid of Cheops or go diving on the Great Barrier Reef.

ROVIO isn't quite that robot. He's 'tethered' by your wireless network and seems more designed to scare your pets than actually let you "be in two places at the same time" (as they keep repeating on the website).

But I can't help thinking we're slowly getting closer to the 'flying cars' future our culture's always promised is just around the corner. I guess that's what I find intriguing about science fiction, the slide from the 'fiction' side to the 'science' end of things.