August 13, 2013

Facebook robot by San Pellegrino Beverages offers remote tours around Sicily

by Gareth Mankoo

So what if you cannot make it to Sicily to enjoy the sights, aromas and fresh air? You can at least simulate your senses to imagine being there. Thanks to the ‘Three Minutes in Italy’ program by San Pellegrino Sparkling Fruit Beverages, who tied up with Ogilvy NY and innovation studio Deeplocal, to roll out a robot. This robot can will take Facebook users on a tour across Taormina in Sicily. This is available for folks in the US who can choose between two live experiences. The first one is the maneuvering of the ground-based robot for three minutes and check the locales out as well as interact with passers-by through Audio Video conferencing and an in-built translation capability. The second experience takes to the skies with a Skybot that treats users to stunning views from above. Of course, this is not maneuverable by users.


The display on the face of the robot takes on the profile picture of the user who is controlling it. So if you plan to use this contraption, ensure you have a decent profile picture with only you in it.

[Via – Psfk]