In honor of Labor Day, what better topic to write about than physician-robots roaming the halls of hospitals? Perhaps you saw the article in last Sunday’s New York Times. The headline immediately caught my eye: "The Boss Is Robotic, and Rolling Up Behind You." There was a photograph of a tall, thin machine with a TV monitor for a head. On the screen was a smiling face, looking right at me.

At first glance, a front-page article about robots in the workplace seems like an odd choice for Labor Day weekend. After all, in clinical and research labs, robotic automation usually means that humans are being replaced. But as the article goes on to explain, these robots don’t eliminate people, they bring them to you — even when you’re far away.

They’re called mobile robots and they’re being rolled out in hundreds of hospitals around the country. Because they can be operated from thousands of miles away using a computer and a joystick, they’re serving as the legs, eyes, ears and voices of doctors who can’t be there physically to examine a patient. The robots offer capabilities that go way beyond video teleconferencing: They allow docs to drop by a patient’s room from afar, ask questions, listen to the response, check out various monitors, form a deeper interpersonal connection and make a more accurate diagnosis.

Imagine the possibilities for those of us in medical marketing. We can only hope that robotics companies — InTouch Health, Vgo Communications, RoboDynamics, Willow Garage, Anybots, iRobot — are planning to develop a mobile robot for people like us. I’d give it a snappy name such as the Marketing Pro Series, or MPS. Just think, if you’re a company with a global presence, you could place an MPS in key markets around the world. And why not? You can get one of these things for as little as $5,000. That’s less than a ticket to Beijing. Your CEO could roll down the halls of offices in different countries on the same day, mingle with colleagues, attend meetings and put in a little face time with critical global partners — all while never leaving the home office. And there’d be no jet lag to worry about, or eating strange, disagreeable foods.

You could also go to a trade show without actually having to be there. Just ship one of these babies to the AAOS, AACC or any other conference, and you can join your team at the booth, talk to prospects and keep tabs on your sales team. And since the robots don’t have any arms, you’d never have to shake any hands.

With an MPS, our clients can have what they’ve always dreamed of — someone from our agency always at their office. Think about it. Want to do a little impromptu brainstorming with one of our creatives? We’re there. Want to noodle a strategy with one of our account execs? Done. Best of all, you can turn us off whenever you want to.

And for all you working moms, the MPS is the ideal solution. Now you can be home with your family, while your robot doppelganger stays late at work to supervise employees or manage a project. You can have it all! Of course, as any lover of science fiction books or movies can tell you, the relationship between man and machine is an uneasy one. Inevitably, robots always manage to get the upper hand. As it grows more intelligent, can’t you see a day when the MPS stays home with your family, while you toil at work into the wee hours?

Tod Brubaker is an associate creative director / copywriter at Seidler Bernstein. He has extensive experience in general consumer and medical B2B advertising and communications. Tod’s work has won numerous industry awards, including Cannes, Addy, Rx Club, and top honors for print from the Johnson & Johnson James E. Burke Marketing Excellence Awards.