Beam Yourself To Work In A Remote-Controlled Body

Telepresence systems that let you go to work remotely have proved awkward to use. One startup thinks it has solved those problems.

New hire: This five-foot-tall remote controlled telepresence system makes it easier for remote workers to bond with colleagues, according to Suitable Technologies.
Suitable Technologies

The tech boom in the San Francisco Bay Area has created intense competition for software engineers. Kids straight out of college can start salary negotiations at six figures, and rents are rocketing.

Scott Hassan, an early Google engineer and now an investor and entrepreneur, thinks he has the solution for companies that think they’re wasting time and money chasing new hires: make it more practical for engineers living in cheaper places to telecommute to work. His company, Suitable Technologies, has developed a roving telepresence system that is five feet, two inches tall, placing its 17-inch screen at roughly the right height for a hallway conversation. It is not the first mobile telepresence system to hit the market, but Hassan says it has features that will make it more practical and less awkward to use than previous systems.

Enabled by increased use of computers and the Internet, teleworking has become more common over the past decade. But Hassan says existing technologies are lacking. “We need a better mode for collaboration than Skype, or a phone,” says Hassan. “We should be able to travel instantly and not just as a voice or a screen on the wall.”

Suitable Technologies will begin taking orders for the $16,000 Beam RPD telepresence system today (the charging dock costs an additional $950). Orders will begin shipping from the company’s Palo Alto, California, factory in November.

Hassan says the system can be used to save on the expense and time of long-haul travel, or to allow remote workers to be more fully integrated into an office.

“Being able to source people from anywhere in the world is a big advantage to companies,” he says. “In most jobs, you don’t actually touch anybody, but it’s useful to be able to see and talk with people informally.” Hassan says a remote worker could stay logged into a Beam system all day, so that anyone can stroll up and start a conversation with them, just as they would in person. Likewise, the Beam’s pilot can roll over to a colleague, or attend any formal or informal meeting.

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