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If you’ve ever played human simulation game The Sims and wished there was similar technology for the real world, you’re in luck. A new Kickstarter project aims to turn people into remote-controlled humans through mobile technology that makes it possible for a person to “control” another person from anywhere in the world. It’s called Zabosu, and the $100,000 campaign launches today.
So how exactly does it work? The remote-controlled human in question is called “The Actor” and is employed by Zabosu to serve as a proxy for the controller, called “The Director.” The Actor streams two-way audio and video of everything around them using a smartphone camera, microphone and 4G network connection. At the same time, The Director is able speak to The Actor via earpiece, controlling the Actor’s behavior. So, potentially, you could hire an Actor to sub for you at a meeting or conference ahead of time, view an apartment before renting, or even to keep tabs on your house (and feed the cat) while you’re away on vacation.
Karl Lautman, founder and CEO of Zabosu, cites the 2007 YouTube show (turned website) Justin.tv as the inspiration for Zabosu. The YouTube show continuously followed Justin Kan via a laptop backpack system that live-streamed 24/7 audio and video of his daily life.
“At that time, I thought how much more interesting it would be if viewers could talk back to Justin and tell him what to do, but the technology just wasn’t there yet," said Lautman in a press statement. “When I finally saw 4G cellular networks on the horizon, which are capable of the requisite 1 Mbps upload speed, I began development of Zabosu in earnest.”
