Japanese design domestic robot
It is called “wakamaru”. $14,000 USD. 100 of them to be sold. I’ve read through the site, and damned if I can tell what it actually does that is at all useful (let alone $14,000 worth of useful)… it appears to have functionality vaguely equivalent to a PDA. It can wake you up at a scheduled time… and serve as an Internet access device (not sure how), etc.
But of course, what it does is almost besides the point - the coolness factor is astronomical… something straight out of Asimov, basically… an autonomous robot that can move about the house on it’s own, that you can “talk” to, that will email you on it’s own if it sees something “unusual”, etc. etc. Amazing (and it is based on a multi-processor system running Linux!). I’d love to see the expression on a visitor’s face when the thing rolls into the room and makes an announcement or something: “Dinner is served, Master. Will you dine on the porch, or in the recreation room?” “On the porch, Jeeves.” “Very good sir, I will inform the kitchen staff.” (I’m sure something like that is possible).
