Jetting to and fro all over the world for business meetings? Forget it! Think telepresence - your robot friend in far-flung places! (Picture.) Here's the idea - you control a robot touring a factory in, say, Spain, while you sit at home in your office in the UK. You can see through the robot's eyes, and the folk on the factory floor can see you. Using your remote control, you can talk to them - and they can talk to you! In an era when many companies have plants and factories all over the world, robot companies think this will be a vital tool for busy business people, saving them days sitting around in airports and on airplanes. They'll just send in their robot instead, and use it to connect via video conferencing with colleagues thousands of miles away. And workpeople don't seem to mind chatting with the robots either. “Two-thirds of conversations are started on the robot side” says Fred Nikgohar, of RoboDynamics. “Those are conversations that wouldn't have happened otherwise.”



It'd be great if Doggydo's got one... save Dad all those trips away.