The high tech sector has an impressive track record with regards to workplace innovation and efficiency. With the emergence of popular programs such as skype and google video chat, telecommuting has become an accepted reality in the modern day workplace. Employees can now work from anywhere in the world and still have that crucial face-to-face time needed.
This solution seems quite elegant, but the reality is that even with a video substitute there are still a few vital characteristics missing. The telecommuter using video chat software is confined to the computer of the person he is talking to and is not able to be part of the office culture.
The ingenious folks over at Willow Garage (a company that develops open source software for robot applications) have taken telecommuting one step further with the introduction of the telepresence robot. This “robot” allows telecommuters to move around the office, be part of meetings or presentations, and totally freak out the new guy. Check out the video below to see the telepresence robots in action at Mozilla headquarters!