Hitachi just solved one of the problems engineers working on robots like Qrio and Asimo have been struggling with for years: the motion on 2 legs. I can’t decide if it is genius or a cheap trick, they just mounted them on Segways et voilà!

As CNN reports:

Hitachi’s robot on wheels avoids obstacles, responds to simple voice commands and reads the weather forecast.

Forget the weather forcast (!): if they blend them with the Segway a bit more, equip the robot with a GPS navigation and an iPod, and make their arms sturdy enough to carry my stuff around, I’d buy one right away and ride it everywhere all the time…

If you can’t afford an Aibo or you just feel like going low tech, Takara’s Choro Mode Pet is just the robot pet you need! These little robots come with a little cord that you plug in your mobile phone, and you can remote control it with your phone’s keys. For example, 2 to go straight, 1 to go left, 3 to go right etc.

Pretty straight forward right? But wait, your pet will also understand a series of predefined complex commands like **7999# to makes the pet go in circles, **11111233# to feed it sweets, which makes make it happy, **1114# to hear the pet sing a song, and my favorite **88111999911# makes the pet see a ghost and get scared…

No need to download/install any program, and it should work on any keitai (comes with an adapter for older models apparently). As usual with anything that plugs into Japanese mobile phones, there is a fair chance that it will not work on a foreign phone. But since it is sound activated, and I am not really sure where/how you plug it, it might well be compatible with any recent mobile phone even outside Japan.

The system through which you control the little robot is called “mail mode” but it doesn’t involve mailing at all, and it seems they named it like that because it “looks like you are typing like when you send an mail” (huh?).

For 999 yen, you get to choose between a blue bunny, a brown cat, a brown dog, a green cat, or a white dog.

And it comes in a cute box with a pattern imitating the famous Louis Vuitton monogram. So, for less than 10 bucks you can save on an Aibo AND a LV handbag. What a bargain!

Hitachi developed this robot and will present it at the Expo Japan 2005. The EMIEW is designed to help people in their movements and will basically serve as a help for people who have difficulties walking (because of a physical handicap for example) and also children and the elderly can benefit from this robot. This robot is very agile and very fast, and it also recognises the voice of its “master”. It can avoid objects (even though ground-to-ground missiles can still pose a threat… ok, I won’t do it again… promised!).

Height 130cm
Weight About 70kg
Quickness Maximum acceleration 4m/s2
High speed 6 km/h in maximum running speed

It is a well-known fact that Japan’s reproductive rate is negative. Meaning Japanese families have one kid or less. The country is aging and while young people are too busy with their studies and jobs, and living in tiny apartments, many older people come home only to find nobody welcoming them. Sure you can buy a chihuahua like many OL (office ladies) do, but then you need to pick up their cute little poo all the time, and their barking might eventually drive you crazy. Or you can get yourself a Near Me or an Aibo, but these virtual pets will never really be family members.

And then comes Wakamaru. Created by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Wakamaru “lives beside you from wakeup time to bed time in harmony with your life.”

According to the promotional website, if Wakamaru finds you in the same room, it comes closer to you and speaks to you. At night, it stands by at its charging station and responds if requested.

Overall, the idea is to have “someone” around, and many features help Wakamaru become an everyday family robot. For example:

• You can give a favorite name and it will recognize it when you call. It uses sound, heat and a camera to find you.
• It identifies two owners registered by face recognition and eight other persons.
• Wakamaru recognizes approximately 10,000 everyday words.
• Based on the information obtained from your daily life pattern or from your contact, it approaches you and provides a topic accordingly.
• Unlike conventional robots operated by human instructions, Wakamaru speaks to you spontaneously.

Wakamaru also stores your daily life schedule and takes autonomous actions accordingly (sleep, wake up, rest room, breakfast, lunch and dinner, etc.).

Wakamaru can also connect to the Internet and allows you to remotely control it and watch over your home, using a mobile phone or personal computer. Plus, you can send him messages via email. During house-sitting sessions, Wakamaru can report to the specified address if it detects a big sound or a moving object.

More importantly, Wakamaru is designed to take care of elderly people, and will react accordingly if no contact (conversation or touch) is made for a certain period of time, or if there is a wide difference between the daily life schedule and the current situation. Same if there is no signal at all (word or touch) from the owner. If it cannot find you or if no response is returned from you when it talks to you, Wakamaru then alerts in a loud voice and if it is not stopped within the specified time, it emails a specified address.

Wakamaru will also ask questions like “Have you taken the medicine?” when the time comes. It also asks questions on the health of the owner and sends the information by email to a preset address.

Sega Toys have created a pet robot for lonely Japanese who couldn’t bother cleaning up after their favorite chihuahua and feel the aibo does not look real enough. The Near Me (playing on the sound “nya”, which is the Japanese for “meow” and sounds like to “near”) is a furry cat robot that could almost pass for a real life (but kinda stupid) kitty. Have a look at the demo video (here). But turn down the volume of your speakers if you are at work or just don’t like music that sounds as horrible as a fake cat. In case you want to offer one for Valentine’s day, it will cost you 35,000 yen (approximately US$350). Near Me homepage here.

(via octopus dropkick!)