New HRP-4 Humanoid Robots From Japan To Go On Sale

An anonymous reader writes "Kawada Industries and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology have unveiled their new humanoid robot, HRP-4. The new humanoid stands 151cm tall and is much thinner than its predecessors. For Japan, HRP-4 is another step forward in creating useful mechanical workers to deal with a forthcoming shortage in the labor force and care for an aging population. HRP-4's creators expect to start selling the robot to universities and other research institutions as early as January 2011 for a price tag of $300,000, which is not that bad for a humanoid." The HRP-4s are a whole $100,000 cheaper than Willow Garage's PR2 (non-humanoid) robots, which became available earlier this month. The difference really adds up when building your robot army. Ron Moore could not be reached for comment.

Comments

Cue the sleazy wah wah guitar

[hyades1]

On the whole, I think I'd rather hire an au pair girl.

Re:Humanoid Robots are great and all

[Anonymous Coward]

The Daleks weren't robots, home-slice.

Re:Humanoid Robots are great and all

[Yetihehe]

Dalek's don't navigate stairs. They level the building.

Re:Humanoid Robots are great and all

[Tetsujin]

Dalek's don't navigate stairs. They level the building.

Actually, Daleks were making their way up stairs as early as 1965. In "The Chase" they landed on the Mary Celeste at sea - on the main deck. They didn't show the Daleks climbing the stairs, but somehow one wound up on top of the Poop Deck a short while later...

So even though the "Daleks don't climb stairs" thing has been a popular Doctor Who meme over the years, even used in the show, and specifically debunked, first in the Seventh Doctor era and then later with the Ninth... Most of the time it wasn't true. :)