Kirobo Mini (the humanoid robot in the photo) is the latest achievement… of Toyota! The Japanese company, famous for its cars, has had an industrial robotics research and manufacturing division since 1970, and since 2000 has also been developing “personal” robots.
Kirobo Mini is pint-sized (10 cm tall) and can be cradled in an adult’s palm. It talks, asks and answers questions, and—via a built-in camera—“recognizes” the basic facial expressions of whomever it is chatting with. Its eyes blink momentarily, producing the kind of expressiveness familiar from cartoons. It also “remembers” (i.e. records data about every environment it is in) and is programmed to combine that data and generate a sort of rudimentary (one might say “child-like”) thought. In addition, it connects to a smartphone…
It is a good engineer “little friend” that kids are sure to love: the combination of Playmobil and hamster, with much more upgraded capabilities, on the verge of “intelligence.” Although for now it speaks only Japanese, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes multilingual.
And with a selling price of about 270 euros (for now, it will probably drop), the Kirobo Mini (or whatever successor follows; there will undoubtedly be many) has all the qualifications to usher in this huge, enormous market: that of household “companion” robots…
Lapdogs: your end is near!!!