Telepresence: The Telegraph of the 21st Century

Last year alone, $228 billion dollars were spent on the 427 million business trips that Americans took according to the Global Business Travel Association. With all the substitutions provided for face-to-face communication, such as videoconferencing or email, the number of trips continues to remain astronomical. As an attempt to advance current technologies even further, and eliminate the number of business trips taken, inventors began to focus on the idea of telepresence through robots. Telepresence allows people to feel as if they are fully present at a meeting or location, when in reality they could potentially be in a different country. This takes video chatting to a new and advanced level because people take on the form of “humanoid robots” (Bennett) with a screen for a face, and camera eye that allows the surrounding environment to be observed.

Although email and phone calls have served to be a superb form of communication amongst business members who live in different regions, it is necessary to look potential clients in the eyes, virtually or in person. As said by Rich Redelfs, a partner at the venture firm Foundation Capital that uses telepresence, "A lot of what we do in venture is, we invest in people. You want to look somebody in the eye and say; do I trust this person enough to write them a multimillion-dollar check? We feel we can do that with telepresence" (Redelfs). Telepresence provides the ability for people to look into each other’s eyes when conversing. It also makes people feel more present because their colleague’s robotic bodies can be seen. This eliminates the issue of only being able to see floating heads during videoconferences. With that being said, it is no surprise that telepresence unit sales have risen 60 percent over the past two years, and will continuously grow until cheaper alternatives surface around 2015.

Will this technology change the face of the corporate world? Will it eliminate working from an office building completely? When looking at the success of previous technological advancements such as the video chat or even email it can be suspected that this too will become a vital key in business practices. Broden even suggested that the 21^st century is still awaiting a monumental technology when he said, “The 19th century had the telegraph, the 20th the fax machine and the Web...” The use of robots as human replacements has a strong potential to become the major technology of the 21^st century.

What is stopping everyone from transforming into a company that relies on telepresence? Simply put, the price and minor defects in the technology. This technology is so new that it is expensive and subject to minor problems. To purchase Polycom’s immersive room a company has to be ready to pay between 200,000-600,000 dollars, or around 6,000-15,000 dollars for Anybot or Vgo’s robots. However, these costs may be well worth it if travel costs per company are significantly reduced, while also helping the world “go green” in an effort to “increase its (your companies) global impact without increasing its carbon footprint” (Cisco).

I consider telepresence to be a long-term investment that will aid in a company’s communicational skills, environmental involvement and allow them to leave a global impact without leaving their homes.

Works Cited

Bennett, Drake. "I'll Have My Robots Talk to Your Robots - BusinessWeek."

BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. 4217052022321.htm>.

""Go Green" with Cisco TelePresence." Cisco. Web. 20 Feb. 2011.

om/en/US/slutions/ns669/networking_solutions_products_genericcontent_green_solution.html>.