Word: robotically
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...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...
...Sony declines to say if AIBO (which means "partner" in Japanese) has proved profitable. But there seems to be real demand for robot pets, judging by the AIBO owners clubs springing up in the U.S. and Japan. Sayuri Toba, a thirtysomething medical clerk in Tokyo, says she and her husband splurged on an AIBO named Hal two years ago. She looks back nostalgically on Hal's first day as a member of the family: "I was so happy. I felt like I was looking at a new being." She still plays with Hal every day after work?it can chase...
...fact, the considerable progress made recently has only underscored how far researchers and engineers are from their goal. Kazuo Tanie, a respected robot researcher and top government adviser, says the technology remains too difficult for any single company to master alone, and the business would ripen more quickly if there were less competition and more pooling of resources. Manufacturers, however, hate the idea of cooperation. After all, Honda's and Sony's corporate images are burnished by their keen machines?they demonstrate technological superiority over rivals. Even if it can't do the dishes, as a walking billboard ASIMO does...
...BUSINESS Sony vs. Honda: Robot wars...
...BUSINESS Sony vs. Honda: Robot wars...