Suitable Technologies is seeking to make telecommuting easier. The company makes its CES debut with Beam, a robot designed for two-way mobile videoconferencing. The $20,000 unit is Wi-Fi enabled, outfitted with 480p video and a six-microphone beam array. The keyboard-driven device can turn 360 degrees on a very tight footprint and has a 180-degree frontal field of vision.

Company engineer Bo Preising sees Beam as the telecommuting device of the future. “There is a real shortage of engineers in this country,” said the Palo Alto-based executive. “There are people in Boise, Idaho, flying each week to Silicon Valley. So if this can save them a couple of trips, that’s a real convenience. And from the company standpoint, it opens up a pool of talent around the world.”

Preising describes a scenario in which someone at a remote location is working at their desk “with their beam turned on all day, and you can stay tuned to what your colleagues are saying. It’s like being two places at one time.”

Suitable is marketing Beam to corporations as a server-based solution, while for smaller firms there is a cloud-based option. He also thinks it might be a lifestyle enhancer for handicapped or housebound individuals. “I know people who get up and throw their wheelchair in the car to go to work every day. Maybe they’d want to telecommute one or two days a week.”

Each installation comes with a Wi-Fi unit and set-up by Suitable is included in the price.

Preising said the company is in talks with CEA to have a couple of hundred units at the next CES, for people who can’t be here to rent.