[From CNN]
The robot that visits your cubicle
By John D. Sutter, CNN
July 30, 2010
(CNN) — When Trevor Blackwell, CEO of a company called Anybots, wants to know what his employees are up to, he sends a robot to their cubicles.
“I can see if people are busy on something — and then won’t interrupt them,” he said this week. “Or, you know, if they’re doing something that looks interesting, or if they look stuck, I’ll have a conversation with them.”
This isn’t your standard “Office Space” conversation. Blackwell boots up a “telepresence robot” — which looks like a combination between a Segway and Johnny 5 from those “Short Circuit” movies — to talk to his employees from his home, 10 miles from Anybots’ office in Mountain Home, California.… read more. “Anybot: The robot that visits your cubicle”