Ars rolls in with a telepresence robot

In 2012, more than six million Americans reported that they work from home. And with the rise of cheap(er) and (relatively more) plentiful bandwidth, getting necessary tasks done from the comfort of your bed (or office, fine) is becoming more viable to employers and more attractive to talented employees. In fact, Ars employees all work from home so that we can be surrounded by our high-quality pets and use our comfortable, if completely ergonomically unsound desks and chairs.

Still, we sometimes long for a familiar human face. And when former Ars staffer Kurt Mackey invited me to his office to talk about the telepresence robots that his company, Mongo HQ, bought for the work-from-home crew, I jumped at the chance to take them for a spin. You can see the results for yourself in the video below. Kurt also penned a nice reflection on the advantages and disadvantages of working with a mostly telepresent staff, which you can read here.

Mongo HQ decided to invest in robots from a company called Double Robotics, but there are many more on the market that you can choose from. Some are bigger, some are smaller, some are specialized for certain types of work (like patient monitoring for doctors). Double Robotics' “Doubles” cost $2500 and don't include the second, third, or fourth generation iPad that you need to mount on the robot as the primary vehicle for communication. But in our brief testing, the machinery seems worthy of its price tag. The Double can last eight-hour days and doesn't require all that much assistance from the people physically present in the office. It can telescope from about six feet tall to about four feet for faster driving, and it handles uneven floors well.

Probably the nearest competitors to the Double are Suitable Technologies' Beam and its budget Beam+. A Beam telepresence robot works for eight hours of active use and 24 hours of standby, and it comes equipped with a 17” screen and a six-microphone array that “cancels echo and reduces background noise”—no iPad necessary. Still, each Beam will also set you back a whopping $16,000, although Suitable Technologies offers a lease program. Beam+ is 15-grand cheaper, but it only lasts for two active hours. The model has a 10” display and a four-microphone array, and it will start shipping this summer. Preorders start at $995 (discounted from $1,995). Neither the Beam nor the Beam+ can change height.

There are other options as well. Anybots' QB Avatar comes equipped with a smaller screen, can telescope from six feet to two feet, and “only” weighs 32 lbs (the Double weighs about 15, including the iPad). It will also set you back $9,700, unless you go for Anybots' rental program.

Or you could go with a VGo, which will cost you upwards of $6,000 depending on whether you want to add on the ability to adjust height, want the extended battery, and so forth. VGo seems to be primarily marketing toward healthcare and education industries, and it supposedly lasts longer than any of the other telepresence robots—12 hours before needing a charge.

As you can see, there's no shortage in the market for telepresence robots, but Double Robotics seems to have a corner on it because its product is affordable and simple. However, with all the press these robots are getting, it won't be long before someone catches up with Double Robotics. And when that day comes, your office will be full of oh-so-quiet coworkers on wheels—rolling around, spying on the links you're clicking on reddit, and then rolling away.