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House-Sitting Robot Hits Store Shelves in Japan
Eh-Wire writes "Roborior, a house-sitting robot armed with a digital camera, infrared sensors, and a videophone is on sale in select Japanese department stores. The house-sitting robot can detect break-ins with its infrared sensors and then call the owners cell phone and stream video to the tiny screen. At $2600 each the Roborior is not cheap. For those that require something a little more substantial, Tmusk, the manufacturer of Roborior, has produced a four legged version called Banryu. This one is the size of a large dog and sells for around $18,000. It's not supposed to shed hair or sleep on the furniture which could make it quite popular."
fitting a camera in every room?
OK, I read the abysmally short article, and I'm a bit confused. Wouldn't it be *slightly* more effective if it called the POLICE first, before calling you? I mean, if it was just a cat or something it'd be annoying, but in the event of a real robbery it'd be more effective to call the cops first.
On another note, the thing is portable. And bloody expensive. So just tack on another $2600 in value to whatever the robbers steal.
> The house-sitting robot can detect break-ins with it's infrared sensors and then call the owners cell phone and stream video to the tiny screen.
Now you can watch your treasures being cleaned out as it happens, rather than having to wait and rewind the security camera tapes when you get home.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Do the Japanese not have security alarm companies? Having a picture sent to your cell phone is nice, but I have Brinks. If my alarm goes off, a person calls me and they are ready to call the police. If my fire alarm is set off, a person calls the local FD first, then me. If, in any case, I don't give the correct codeword, a hostage situation is assumed. I'd rather have that than some glorified roomba.
i for one welcome our robot bodygaurd overlords
I want a robot that will shoot the intruders instead.
has a security system that does the same thing only better (it calls the police first) and cheaper. (Okay and it doesn't have the webcams, but I think she could probably get that installed).
And best of all... the thieves can't STEAL IT. (like they could with the robot)
The robot's COOL and all but... I don't see the point.
http://www.tmsuk.co.jp/roborior/movie.html
Pretty interesting, but for some reason I couldnt watch this without constantly being reminded about the superiority of mobile phones and service in pretty much every developed country other than the US.
Someone else mentioned putting cameras in every room, and the reality is that's already trivial. You can even use free software to detect image changes that might be burglars and send those images to a safe remote location.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Streaming video directly to your cell phone? It immediately has the full backing of every cell phone company currently out there :>
for the fees you would pay for this robot, you could install very well concealed nanny cams and a premium grade professionally monitored security system (think brinks).
The bot should be targeted at those who can't afford this kind of system, which would mean it should NOT be the most valuable thing in the house. With that kind of price tag however, anyone who breaks in will most certainly steal the bot first. I know I would If I decided to rob a place which employed one.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
I'd take the robot instead!
Just so I cool steal their cool robot!! :-)
"Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far
After all, I could look around for money but it would be much more efficient to throw a blanket over the robot, steal it, and put it up for sale on ebay.
Or, I could start a new fad by mailing the owners pictures of the robot vacationing in other countries.
Wait, it could take it's own damned pictures!
This is not a dream, not a dream...we are transmitting from the year 1-9-9-9.
Now... if they'd only build it into my Roomba or Scuba so it can scan the house while it cleans.....
I spent 18000 dollars on my security bot.. and they took it!
..they will be adding a small shotgun :-)
It appears to me that robots in the home will most certainly be commonplace in the near future. Japan already has lots of research on how ot make robots move, look, and even act human. Despite such aesthetic devices, robots are already starting to invade our lives. Manufacturing facilities, automated landing systems in aircraft, room sweeping, room mopping, and now security systems. The cost of R&D is high which is what makes the $2600 security robot so expensive. But, much like the Aibo, the more people that purchase such devices they will inevitably become cheaper. With that said, I encourage anyone who can afford one to purchase one and help drive the price down. Heck.. if I had the money I might spring of one of those space trips offered by Virgin Galactic or even another country.
House-Sitting Robot Hits Store Shelves in Japan
Old people fall. Young people spring. Rich people summer and winter.
Can it make me a sandwich?
Actually, I suppose it's closer to a deep thought to note that many Japanese are very security minded even though crime is so rare here. A few weeks ago the police were handing out flyers in the station to warn people about a "crime wave". Something like 30 burlaries in a month for a large district was really worrying them. Many of the new apartments have gated access with cameras and intercoms and all that stuff.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
House sitting robot
No gun or sharp knives to kill?
Expensive door stop
"Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it every day!" - Alfred E. Neuman
screw that, I want ED209!
--
Society has traditionally always tried to find scapegoats for its problems. Well, here I am.
In Soviet Russia, store shelves hit YOU!
Ouch. Some words were just not meant to have 'robo' melded with them.
Robuard sounds much better!
Is it just me or does anyone else wonder what's up with the Japanese obsession with robots? Nothing they've come up with is even remotely practical. Buy a good alarm system. I'm sure it's a heck of a lot better and costs much less. These things are even too expensive as toys.... What's the point? Sure it's cool to watch them. They are little more then dancing calculators right now. Once someone manages to get an AI system up to the point of being as smart as say a dog... then these thing might actually be able to do something useful.
While we're diddlying our time away with silly games like dual-core CPU technology, the Japanese are furthering the gap by creating the products of the future.
We need to try to be more like them.
... Robocop then.
I'll buy one when they attach a 12 gauge to blast the intruders!
Heathkit Hero Jr's were doing this back in the 80s. Read up on the home security system option
here.
Maybe you could sneak in, retro-fit it with some sort of explosive device, and reprogram it to kill its owners when they return home.
man, this $h1t's been *done* before... http://images.southparkstudios.com/media/images/80 2/802_image_07.jpg/
The site:
http://www.banryu.jp/index_e.html
Images:
http://www.banryu.jp/press/index_e.html
I'm sorry, but a robot without death-ray eyes is just pointless.
The robot will be stolen as well.
I don't need one- I'm always at home, or at school. Yes, I need a life, but I'm perfectly happy doing what I do (nothing).
To serve mankind, indeed.
Your courageous and selfless spelling corrections have made me a better person.
...has more info about the expensive version.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3061
Time to kick the dog out...with the cat...
--gks
How about sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads?
Now that would be awesome!
Mutated, ill tempered sea bass would do if we can't get the sharks though.
I gotta steal me one of these!
Roborior, huh?
Nonsensical naming scheme.
Stupid Japanese.
Yeah, that's bad...
And can I mod it to add a shot gun so I can watch from my cellphone the robotic house-sitter blowing the living crap out of anyone stealing my hard earned possesions.
Only then would it be worth spending the $2600 to secure my home.
Your job, for which you get paid is to edit submissions. This means, just as it does in any other journal, that you are not obliged to accept the submission of a reporter in its raw form. Please learn, understand and enforce the difference between possessive "its" and the contraction "it's".
That is all. You may now return to searching for goat porn or whatever it is that you actually do all day.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
I herd on Attack of the Show that the Prime minister of japan was attacked by it...Only in Japan...
I bet Japan's Prime Minister can't wait to get one...
I better start cutting the power lines a hour before I rob a house now.
When the robot can bring the newspaper and mail in and turn over the car every once in a while, not to mention mow the lawn, etc.
Windows is a bonfire, Linux is the sun. Linux only looks smaller if you lack perspective.
until then, it's just a glorified burglar alarm...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
Banryu photos here: http://www.sanyo.co.jp/koho/hypertext4-eng/0211new s-e/1106-e.html/
My parents went to Las Vegas so that i could witness "'Peak Oil'".
Robot: You have 20 seconds to drop your guns. 20... 19... 18...
Burglar: drops gun.
Robot: 17... 16... 15...
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
seems like an awfully expensive way to get cute videos of your pets.
And I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords
does the four-legged one hump your leg?
Gort is very good. He just zaps those burglars and urchins with those lasers in his eyes.
...)
Great for those obnoxiuos dog-walkers always poo-ing on my lawn.
"Come into my house and meet Gort".
"Hey Gort, why are you lifting your visor? This is a friend."
"Gort, why are turing your head at me?"
"Close it!" "Turn off that lase beam!" "Klatu barada nictu!"
(muffled screams, the smell of burnt flesh
ED-209 'bout to thoroughly shred some office schmuck
The pain was excruciating and the scarring is likely permanent, but that just means it's working.
Ouch. Some words were just not meant to have 'robo' melded with them.
Yeah, this title just kept making me think of this guy...
"There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer
run YellowDog Linux?
(Considering the articles are next to each other, it had to be asked!)
b3 4phr41d 0f my 4bov3-4v3r4g3 c0mpu73r kn0wI3dg3!
MadDwarf
There is very little crime in the manner of home break-ins and street mugging in Japan. So a 'house-sitting robot' should best call the owner to determine what the issue is before calling the police.
If it is determined that a crime is happening, then the police can be called. The crimes are recorded and the criminals can be captured. Eventually the robot makers will figure out that the recordings of the crimes should not be stored in the robot itself since the criminals will be destroying the robot pronto after breaking into the house.
Japan has a lot more social cohesion than the US or Europe. People and police generally know who the criminals are. Street criminals can expect to get caught. It establishes credibility for a job as soldier in the major white-collar organized-crime syndicates of Japan. I know, that doesn't seem too bright, but street criminals usually aren't that bright.
I sure hope they dont steal the DAMN ROBOT!!!
US-UK-Israel: The real Axis of Evil
With that kind of price tag however, anyone who breaks in will most certainly steal the bot first.
I would disagree. Unless the criminal is stupid...
Well since the bot has cell phone technology, as soon as you turn it on they can track you through the EMS service. That and there are third party technologies than can track your location based of the speed of your relay signal to one cell tower compared to another even though its a slight difference of a few milliseconds. (that's triangulating for you)
If you were planning on stealing it, the first smart thing to do would be turn it off without it detecting you. Then you'd have to know someone who can hack it or have the knowhow to reset the cell phone information and then you'd have to somehow find a way to sell the thing without being trace. If you sold it and they traced the signal to someone else they'd most likely tell the cops who sold it to them out of fear of prosecution.
The ubersmart theif would most likley find a way to disable the system remotley and make it seem there was no breakin whatsoever and if they later arrest you and then get your lawyer to demand to see the recordings which will show everything fine at the time of the breakin.
But... I think that would be someone stealing for the thrill of it rather than monetary gain and those people are very rare and Japan has a minimal crime rate as it is compared to the US.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
College student coming home for summer break, offer a free place to live (but they have to pay for food) in return for watching the place over the summer.
Lord knows I would have jumped at it; my parents gave me a 10 PM curfew when I came home after my first year of college. Yes, you read that right - 10 PM. Assholes.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
So, what you'd get is a female android robot with sensitive skin and a comfy lap to rest your head on, that can sense intruders and fires when you're away, put out the fires and shoot the intruders (maybe with pepperballs?), and send you streaming video of what's happening. Tack on a little Scooba functionality and it could keep the floors clean when there are no fires or intruders.
Yup, that would be one hell of a robot.
.. pa-ra-bo-la, pa-ra-bo-la, 2 pi R, 2 pi R, where's your latus rectum, where's your latus rectum, 2 pi R
it get's worse - they're even baby sitting children at their homes with this service:
http://www.babysitteroutsource.com/
If it is controlled by Windows, I would not enter my own house without making sure the "dog" had not turned into a wild trojan horse.
Can Banryu shoot fireballs while shouting "Haduken"?
What happens when the lights are off in the house can the robot dog then see the intruder? I do not see how Japanese people can waste their money like this in such a frivolous way. It's really absurd how obsessed they are with newer technologies that really do not have any benefit of the life we live today.
I'm not holding my breath.
What sort of fucked-up economics does it take for people to buy $2600 guard dog robots, yet I'm still shouting my fucking lunch order to a person whose sole job it is to type it into a cash register?
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
Claims it violates his teddy bear security cam.... This is gonna knock them out of the Byrnes circle of trust for sure...
Yeah, my karma sucks....but so do the mods.
...as if the thieves won't take this too. All you get is a shot of the crooks mooning you on your cell phone as they steal your rather useless robot too.
Add an X26 Taser and we're talking. Allow it to defend itself. Otherwise, this is a waste of money that you could spend on an ADT service.
I have a real dog - a kelpie. I don't have to worry about shedding hair and him sleeping on the furniture because he stays outside where he belongs. (Okay, he's allowed inside at night sometimes, but he has a rug to stick to.)
He not only requires less maintenance, but is also a lot smarter than any robot, has emotions, is nicer to pat, can go places that a robot dog never will (let's see a robot dog run up a steep hill, go for a swim or chase a rabbit through thick scrub) and does a lot better job keeping burglars away and detecting people approaching.
The other thing is that every dog has its own personality and most dogs seem to have an uncanny empathy with humans. Robots will never replace the utility and genuine companionship of a good dog.
Oh yeah, even a dog with pedigree papers is a lot less expensive than a robot!
Look at the size of that proboscis!
I certainly wouldn't want it humping my leg...