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Do you mean this?
Cye Personal Robot

I'd love to add one of these m-100's to one of these personal robots and have my own autonomous drink caddy.

Of course, I'd prefer if the hardware was made by Jesus.

Tcd004

Bad news:
With the mention of the cell phone software being designed for DoCoMo handsets, I have a feeling this will be released for the Japan market, and much later, if ever for those of us in the US.

Good news:
Not nearly as multi-function, but arguably more useful is a robot that was just released in the US. Like the multi thousand dollar electolux sold in europe, the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner was just released by the people at iRobot, and is available now at Sharper Image and similar stores. Oh, and it's only $200. PC Magazine has a review.

Also, there's been a robot available for home monitoring and general wandering around in the US for some time called the Cye. It's brain is your PC, but with their advanced kits that include a camera, you can have it do remote monitoring, etc... too. This thing is currently about $3k, but it used to be under $1k!

Anyone have an idea of the estimated price on MARON-1?

At least one person who did a Furby Autopsy was not very impressed with the construction of the system.

Some possibly nicer robot kits are available in a number of places, including the Robot Store, Probotics, and Arrick... Of course, there are also the cool Mindstorms, the relatively expensive Aibo (Some hacking info on it can be dug up from the Aibo Site), and the companies listed in this part of the robotics faq

However, Hacking the Furby does give you a relatively inexpensive talking robot with IR input, etc. and ought to be fun... While not the most well constructed system, it does give you some decent features (detects light & sound levels, tilt/inversion of the furby, Infrared and RS232 comms (when upgraded), and some touch sensors on the back, front, and mouth) - especially nice if you get one used, cheap...

It is nice that the reprogrammability kits are being made available, particularly for parents of autistic children (since children can relate to a Furby better than a "regular" hobbyist-grade robot)...

Also, check out the open-source Rossum Project

Is this the next competitor for the Cye Robot? That one can already vacuum your floors, retrieve mail, and dance to music. Who knows, maybe the Palm could do all of that and be your next secretary that won't ask for a lunch break.

I'd love to see links to a page about this device or other similar ones that other people have made...Here's a link to Cye, a sub-$1000 robot that could carry around a wireless webcam if so desired.

Fore systems (they ave been purchased by Marconi plc)
Lycos (moved)
Freemarkets.com (remember the ipo)
Probotics, Inc. (makers of Cye)

I'm sure there are many more, but these are the big ones that stick in my head.

Admittedly, many may have started and then left pittsburgh.