As a remote employee, I'll do anything to make my job easier and more importantly, to get folks at work to REMEMBER THAT I'M OUT HERE. You can only do so much with Video Chat. I just wish I had a physical presence on campus. Well, the folks at MSR (Microsoft Research) are doing some research into what they call "Embodied Social Proxies." Basically, how will a team's relationship with a remote work change if there is a physical stand-in (er, Embodied Social Proxy) that they can interact with. It's more than just a table with a webcam. Check out the video!