Major Kirobo: Toyota Launches Modern-Day Furby in Japan
If you live in Japan and desperately need a friend, Toyota would like to introduce you to its big-eyed Kirobo Mini robot.
Like a Furby on steroids, the four-inch-tall automated machine is able to speak and participate in casual conversation while simultaneously moving its head and arms for more than two continuous hours before draining its battery. A built-in camera gives Kirobo Mini the ability to read the facial expression of the individual it?s communicating with, which the diminutive droid then uses to adjust its speech and movement patterns to better address the user?s perceived emotional state. Somewhat creepier is Kirobo Mini?s ability to remember past events as well as its user?s likes and dislikes, creating the real-life potential for a Futurama-esque human-robot relationship. As we learned at last year?s Tokyo auto show, the inspiration for Kirobo Mini comes courtesy of Japan’s famed robot astronaut (robostronaut") Kirobo. Approximately one-third the size of the former International Space Station resident, the Kirobo Mini gets most of its artificial intelligence courtesy of a dedicated smartphone app; it streams information to the little robot via Bluetooth for a monthly fee of 300 yen (about $3).
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Customers living in Tokyo and Aichi Prefecture, Japan, can order the...
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