Robotic futures: Telepresence your way into work

1 April 2014 Last updated at 00:07 BST

When you can not get to a meeting or inspect a warehouse in person, the next best thing is to transport yourself there remotely.

'Telepresence' is fast gaining traction in the workplace as videoconferencing and other technological tools become ever more sophisticated. Today users can remotely control tablets on robotic wheels around their environment.

But Massachusetts-based iRobot has now taken the idea one step further - with a five-foot high semi-autonomous robot able to map its surroundings and drive itself from one part of a building to another.

From Boston, Richard Taylor was given a walkthrough of the droid with Chief Technology Officer Paulo Pirjanian - who was three thousand miles away on the West Coast.