QB Automated Employee Security Camera, or Privacy Invasion Tool?

QB-Robot

Once upon a time, when managers wanted to know what their employees were up to, they would walk right up to their cubicles and find out. It was either that, or they would install security cameras all over the place together with heavy monitoring.

However, a California company has released a new telepresence robot known as the QB robot, which has the ability to go around the office and check out what employees are doing in their cubicles. Bosses, can see what the robot sees, hear what the robot hears, and broadcast their voices through the robot.

Such a device would evidently cause concerns for employee privacy, but having a look at what employees are doing is not all that it does. The use of the robot would allow employees to stay at home and come to work as a robot. The robot is easily controllable through the keyboard, and includes sensors to prevent it from bumping into things.

According to Trevor Blackwell, CEO of Anybots, the company that devloped the QB, “I can see if people are busy on something — and then won’t interrupt them. Or, you know, if they’re doing something that looks interesting, or if they look stuck, I’ll have a conversation with them.”