Beam me up, Scotty. Telecommuting professionals are a step closer to using the iconic phrase from Star Trek, more or less. Several robotics companies are in the process of developing and manufacturing when is known as telepresence robots. The machines—equipped with video cameras, microphones and wheels—allow users to see, hear and “walk” in locations thousands of miles from where they actually work.

As more employees work remotely with the assistance of computers, smartphones, email, video conferencing and instant messaging, they miss the full experience of face-to-face collaboration and camaraderie gotten from physically being in an office with coworkers. Plus, when their presence is required, the cost of commuting or flying can be substantial. Telepresence robots attempt to solve that problem with wheeled machines run by wireless internet connections that offer remote workers a physical presence in the workplace.

“This gives you that casual interaction that you’re used to at work,” engineer Dallas Goecker told the Associated Press, speaking on a Beam device by Suitable Technologies. “I’m sitting in my desk area with everybody else. I’m part of their conversations and their socializing.”

Only a few organizations currently use the robots, as they are expensive and can be difficult to navigate.

“There are still a lot of questions, but I think the potential is really great,” Pamela Hinds, co-director of Stanford University’s Center on Work, Technology, and Organization, told the AP. “I don’t think face-to-face is going away, but the question is, how much face-to-face can be replaced by this technology?”

Still, the telepresence robots offer solutions to many issues, including managers who need to inspect overseas factories, family members who want to check on elderly relatives and even doctors who wish to examine patients in remote hospitals. In fact, ABI Research forecasts the global market for telepresence robots will reach $13 billion by 2017.

Russian venture capitalist Dimitry Grishin believes in the market’s future. He invested $250,000 in the startup Double Robotics. The California company a device called the Double that holds an Apple iPad, which already has a built in video-conferencing system called FaceTime. Double Robotics has already sold more than 800 units at $1,999 each.

“It’s difficult to predict how big it will be, but I definitely see a lot of opportunity,” Grishin told the AP. “Eventually it can be in each home and each office.”

Suitable Technologies is showing just how possible that may be. Half of its employees may “beam” in to the office on any given day, with Beam devices sitting next to human colleagues during meetings or even in the cafeteria for lunch small-talk. Some employees, such as software engineer

Josh Faust, are even planning to move. Faust currently beams into the office from Hawaii where he spends time surfing. He plans to spend the winter skiing in Lake Tahoe.

“I’m trying to figure out where exactly I want to live. This allows me to do that without any of the instability of trying to find a different job,” Faust told the AP, speaking on a Beam from Kaanapali, Hawaii. “It’s pretty amazing.”

[Image via Suitable Technologies]