Oh so 21st century! See: http://www.irobot.com/us/learn/commercial/ava500.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand_Ava%20500
Long predicted in sci fi, there are now robots that roam around corporations and factories with hi-def video monitors giving people "virtual presence." Yes, it as creepy as you imagined. See the video on this page. It sort of reminds me of someone in an electric wheelchair. Anything which reduces coach-fare business trips is a good thing as far as I am concerned. These things cost $65,000 each so they will not be widespread overnight. Someday there will be a meeting at which everyone attending is embodied by one of these things. People will wonder why they did not simply make it a fully electronic. My guess is that these things will never be widespread for use in offices. They are an interim solution halfway between today's real office and a fully virtual "office" which consists only of people in individual offices either at home or in rented satellite office space. For use in factories, laboratories, farms, indoor farms, and other places where there are structures, machines and objects you need to deal with, these machines may be the wave of the future. - Jed
