Word: robot
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...ASIMO was designed with that in mind, says Hirose. The robot is light (52 kilos), lest it stumble and pin a user to the floor, triggering a product-liability lawsuit. Yet it's tall enough to reach light switches and doorknobs or to clear the table. Its mini-cam "eyes" are level with those of a sitting adult for easy communication, and its humanlike form is meant to break down our inhibitions toward sharing a home with a talking toaster...
CIRCUIT CIRCUS Everyone has a theory on what makes a good robot. Here's our assessment...
Breakdown: We're not entirely sure he's a robot, but he certainly doesn't seem human
...Indeed, there's a gaping cost-benefit gulf to be bridged before Honda's little walking man can evolve into the next Walkman. Consumers have been conditioned to expect robots to behave like C-3PO of Star Wars. But creating artificially intelligent machines that can sense and interact with the environment in a convincing way is a monumentally complex computing task. The Japanese government's Humanoid Robotics Project set out five years ago to deliver a robot versatile enough to perform hard labor in hazardous conditions. Some $40 million has been spent but the project's HRP-1 robot still...
...equipped with a digital camera and mobile phone. Sony has taken a slightly different approach. While Honda researchers pursue the holy grail of the film Bicentennial Man?a mechanized butler?Sony's vision is closer to the sci-fi movie A.I., which features a boy-bot that offers unconditional robot lovin'. The company has sold more than 100,000 of its toylike AIBOs since the robo-dog was introduced three years ago, at an average price of $1,500 each. "I see robots in consumers' homes as their personal pals," says Satoshi Amagai, chief of Sony's robot division. "They...