The Economist magazine's travel-focused newsletter slash blog, Gulliver's Best, posted an article on remote presence robots earlier this week. Their primary purpose? To take your place at international meetings and save you the slog of international travel. Although, in my opinion, these aren't going to breaking into many boardrooms/conference rooms any time soon, it does serve to illustrate a possible challenge to face-to-face meetings through better, cheaper, more accessible technology. If Mr. Roboto can go to Washington (and Delhi, and Vancouver, and Singapore and London) it could cut costs in the long term for organizations.
It also has an interesting possibility; like a personal avatar, it could allow disabled participants to "attend" events. Another advantage? It doesn't need a hotel room, so no volcano-imposed vacations that reduce productivity, increase costs, and cause very-human-related stress.
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