The ‘Human Uber’ idea is called ChameleonMask, and describes itself as ‘a telepresence system that displays a remote user’s face on another user’s face’.
They say:
By wearing the mask, we can be someone else and also someone can be our surrogates. The remote user can not only communicate with people who are not in the same place but also communicate physically by making direction such as body gesture with surrogate’s limbs. [sic]
While it’s hard to differentiate this between a ‘mask’ and just someone playing around with Skype or FaceTime and sticking their phone to their face, the idea is interesting…kind of. Having someone physically be there for you, with your face on a screen, rather than just using FaceTime, for example, is better? I think?
The developers continue:
The idea is very simple that the remote user borrows the someone’s body and replace the face to show his presence. [sic]
However, how do people judge the person in front of them as “the right person”? Can we judge if the surrogate with similar height, physical size, and dress the same way as the remote user? [sic]
We conducted the feasibility test of the concept. Surrogate wore the mask and went to the city hall to take a resident card, or became a grandchild and met with her grandmother. As a result, people tended to regard a person who had masked the as “the right person”. How do we judge a person as “the right person”? [sic]
It seems the possibilities are endless, would you use this service?
