Can avatars and hyper-real video conferencing replace business meetings?

Extract . . .
With eery, childlike eyes staring out of a blank plastic face, the Telenoid R1 does not look like a serious tool for business. Its movements are jerky. Limbs are conspicuously absent. And in terms of function, it is essentially just a $3000 video conferencing system, doing what Skype does for free. But Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University believes his invention meets a real business demand, for hyper-realistic, face-to-face communication over long distances.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11493961