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.

Comments

Interesting but..

[fateswarm]

It will probably be some closed source technology that obviously is not working right from the first attempt. Strange noises can be heard from the TV, the Radio, the guys next door, or even the dog.

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.

Re:2 hours uptime before recharge?

[Anonymous Coward]

There is already a lawn mower that does just this... very amazing piece of machinery.

http://www.usa.husqvarna.com/Folder_263/node756. as p

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.