Mitsubishi Robot - Watchdog, Nurse, Annoying Friend 183
jomaree writes "The SMH Online reports that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have developed a robot (to run on Linux) with voice and face recognition capabilities. The robot would be able to connect to the Internet, contact you by e-mail or a mobile phone and, say, send you a message if it 'hears' a strange noise inside your home. It can also remember the side effects of medication. Reportedly, Mitsubishi claim that the robot 'will become a future house-sitter, caretaker, nurse and friend for the family'. Unfortunately the robot can also be programmed to ask 'You're home late. What have you been up to?' Don't we already have people for that?" The Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun has a story with pictures.
Interesting but.. (Score:4, Interesting)
A similar but imo more sensible approach would be a simple computer box and a audio card with dynamic microphones that would be based on some nice open software which can be upgraded and be compatible with our needs.
Computers could do these things from the 80s. All we need is the software to do it.
Anyone reminded of "Share and Enjoy"? (Score:3, Interesting)
The song of the complaints department went something like this:
(to be a sung by a choir of two million robots, a flattened fith out of tune).We hope that Mitsibushi's attempt is somewhat better. However, thanks to the late Douglas Adams for warning us!!!!!
Re:knowing the japanese (Score:1, Interesting)
you can buy teddy bears that are DILDOs.
you can buy used panties from vending machines.
you can't buy a beer in a lawson's without passing at least one prostitute.
Re:2 hours uptime before recharge? (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.usa.husqvarna.com/Folder_263/node756
It has some wires in the yard like the dog fence, and one wire about halfway up the middle. The mower mows in a totally random fashion, and the idea is to run it every day (middle of the night is best time as it is very quiet). Anyway, when it knows it is low, it will seek out its charging bay on its own and will charge a bit before going back to its task. When it finishes mowing, it docks in its charging bay.