I am quite sure that for many of us who happen to work in a traditional office setup can so identify with the following – our computers are connected to a network printer, so each time that we hit the Print button on our respective computers, we will have to wait for a while (if the printer has decent speed) and then walk over to the printer in order to pick up whatever has been printed. How about letting someone send over the printed documents to you? That would be the role of your personal assistant at the moment if you happen to wear a managerial hat, but how about letting a robot do that for you? This is what Fuji Xerox has done, having worked on a new robotic printer which is capable of moving around to deliver documents to the person who printed it.
Meant to be used mainly in public spaces, it is one way of keeping the sensitive documents away from prying eyes. However, I do hope that whatever is printed will be stored in some sort of secure “safe” that can only be unlocked by a special PIN that is sent by the printer to the person who printed the documents. After all, who are we to say that no one is going to hijack the printed documents that are en route to your desk?
There are also sensors integrated into this unique printer to stop it from bumping into people and other objects as it waltzes its way through.