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June 01, 2005

The robots are coming

[The Eye Scribe] Toyota announced plans to shift into manufacturing robots by 2010. Perhaps more perplexing is their claim that the new robot line will be able to greet visitors to your home, "raise children" (yes, I'm not making that up), and take care of elderly. You might be wondering, how in the world will they get robots do to any of those things? They don't even have a working model! Apparently, the company is filled with positive hopes thanks to their biped robots that play music at the Aichi Expo. If robots can play instruments, then by golly they should be able to raise children too. The first robots off the line are planned to be receptionists which can serve drinks. Let's hope they don't know how to check ID. Oh and in case you are still wondering, the automaker plans to make these personal assitance robots affordable--100,000 yen will be the going price, they say. That's 923.88 USD minimum price. Run for your lives while you still can!! Article courtesy . See the robots in...

Some slightly related from Technorati and Google.

[Wordlust.blogspot.com] Wordlustitude: 10/03/2004 - 10/09/2004: A quick search through Google news reveals about a gazillion stories of how far robots have come from the toasters and evil giant killer robots of my childhood: I found actual stories about surgical robots, biped entertainment robots, microscopic swimming robots, bug-sized flying robots, yellow torpedo-shaped robots, cockroach-like robots, yo-yo-playing robots, robot telescopes, robot dogs, robot porters, vampire robots who eat flies for energy--and a Christ-like robot that walks on water.

Users.adelphia.net[Users.adelphia.net] Rocketboy's MINI Blog: There were no real robots at the time of course, so it was purely science-fiction. But I always believed a robot would be the most natural complement to the automobile - a full biped, intelligent version having great strength, dexterity and a library of mechanical knowledge. I imagined a robot with the ability to repair vehicles, direct traffic and watch over high-accident crossroads to preempt accidents.

Antipixel.comhttp://www.antipixel.com [Antipixel.com] Antipixel | Blog | September, 2004: Even today I’m pretty much hobbled. I can’t really bend at the waist, which for a biped is something of a hassle. If you were designing a humanoid robot, the first thing you’d do is give them a waist (otherwise they wouldn’t even be able to tie their own shoelaces).

Antipixel.comhttp://www.antipixel.com [Antipixel.com] Antipixel | Blog | General Rants: Right at the point of the cab ride from Dulles airport to my hotel where the fortieth or fiftieth anonymous glass office block was making me wonder just where exactly I was (and how long before I wasn’t), the car swept around a bend in the expressway down onto a ramp behind the Lincoln Memorial and I caught a glimpse of the Washington Monument over the tops of the tress with the Capitol shining in bright sunlight in the background.

Digitalpretzel.comhttp://www.digitalpretzel.com [Digitalpretzel.com] -Digitalpretzel.com- Now with pictures!!: Remember Catching Daddy-Long-Legs and pulling their legs off one by one? Or turing the poly-legged insect into a biped and watching it stumble as it tried to scurry away? yeah... childhood.

Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, ,

Posted at June 1, 2005 08:47 AM

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