It appears the HeadThere Giraffe has some competition from iRobot.

While this telepresence robot lacks the screen to display the controller’s face, it appears to be designed to take more abuse … which it will undoubtedly receive.

The purpose of the robot is so that a company expert can tour a factory or job site and get a first-hand view of a project without having to board a plane and fly halfway around the world. So you can think of this as more a robotic project manager, whereas the Giraffe is more like your robotic CEO.

If one of these were running around my company … people would glue spring-ball bug antenna to the top, and tape a sign to the back that says “Kick me.”

I love the idea of the thing, but I also loved the idea of talking computers — that is, until I actually had to talk to them. Now there is nothing I hate more than a talking computer.

So it will be with these.