Mitsubishi Robot - Watchdog, Nurse, Annoying Friend

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.

Read the Headline

[Yokaze]

The headline says it all: Robot for the elderly to become real-life Astro Boy

No flamethrower or electroshocker included.
The security, which should be gained by this, is not one against burglers.

It is against dying from mismedication, strokes, and the like. It checks the person in question regularly for life-signs, reminds him/her of the medication and notifies an ambulance if necessary. And additionally gives the feeling of company.

The aversion seems to be a cultural thing: In Japan, inanimate objects are more likely considered to have a soul. The first image of a robot is Astro Boy.
In the Western World, the first image is Maria (Metropolis) (or maybe the Golem).

Re:Interesting but..

[Webmonger]

Oh, come on. The fact that it's robot hardware running Linux is the fun part. If people are running Linux on their X-boxes, surely someone will figure out how to get root on one of these robots that already run Linux. Then people can start writing their own software for the robot...