Two-Legged Home Robot, Coming Soon To Japan

An anonymous reader submits "Two Japanese companies, (ZMP corp., and Mizuno, a athletic goods manufacturer), announced that they will start selling the first two-legged robot for home use. The robot, called nuvo, will retail for 500,000 yen. It wil be able to understand 1,000 (Japanese) words, dance, and allow the owner to contact the robot via 3G phones."

I can't read Japanese

[Xpilot]

Anyone care to fansub this article?

Nice picture though.

3G Phones ?

[Gopal.V]

War driving to conquer japan with mad freaking robots .... hopefully they'll not think about bluetooth ... :)

Welcome

[Anonymous Coward]

I for one welcome our new overlord nuvo

Re:A toy?

[FinestLittleSpace]

notify the authorities if the owner doesn't move for more than a specified time. So.. the police arrive everytime betty goies for a nap?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:A toy?

[Wiser87]

A robot that can fetch medicine...

Small problem there, it doesn't have any hands.

100 words, dance and mobile phone?

[maxmg]

It will be able to understand 1,000 words, dance, and allow you to contact it via 3G phones

sounds like most girls you meet in clubs today...

You're crazy

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do you want it to talk?

Re:Realdoll robotics

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, I might pay for that.

Most men do, it's called getting married.

Re:100 words, dance and mobile phone?

[BabyDave]

Not quite like most girls I meet in clubs:

... and allow you to contact it via 3G phones

My sister wants one,

[slackingme]

but before I invest my hard-earned yen, I have to ask...

... does it run Linux?

Lord of the Dance?

[Peeet]

Michael Flatley I'm not, but I - even in my inherent inability to grasp the simplest dance steps - could hardly call that [asahi.com] dancing.

PS - For those wondering about the video post slashdotting, imagine an akward looking slot machine with pointlessly complex legs wobbling aimlessly across a stage in a rythm and fashion in no way whatsoever resembling the happy-love-fun-time-gogogo japanese techno music playing in the background.

Then call that "dancing".

Re:100 words, dance and mobile phone?

[Cryacin]

Do they issue restraining orders?

This Just In...

[natrius]

A sequel has just been announced for the sequel to the critically acclaimed movie, You Got Served [imdb.com]. This film, entitled You Got Served Again, will reportedly center around a group of dancing teenage robots trying to prove their worth while dealing with the challenges they encounter growing up on the tough assembly lines of Japan.

battlebots on a new level

[xangsta]

Oh sweet a new era of battlebots...

not only do the bots slug it out, you also get to hear their masters yelling commands in japanese!

hmmm how do you say "ROBOT RIGHT CROSS" in japanese

it'd be cooler if the robots could speak, then they could trash talk each other....it'd be a half hour of action and crazy talk

Re:You're crazy

[Channard]

Why do you want it to talk? So it can say 'Oh, you're so big!'. Or if you're using the special discounted ad-supported Robo Doll, it can say 'Oh, you're so big! But you could be bigger - visit www.vigorex.com'

Re:Human Translation

[sjwt]

so not that much change to read the headline
"hacked robot kills faimly"

im not sure if thats a godo thign or a bad thing :)

Re:DON'T use the fish!

[Max_Abernethy]

Evidently, its weight is 2.5 kilometers.

Re:A toy?

[beacher]

It doesn't need hands! Robots eat old people's medicine! Better get your Robot Insurance [bigtimepie.com] from Old Glory....

Re:Japanese Geeks wants another kind of robot

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, the Japanese really do have a different culture...

The BSD article on the front page of slashdot.jp has 51 comments, and none of them are modded down to -1

tee hee

[Anonymous Coward]

something [jishiki?]

Mmmmhh... free jishiki...

Re:A toy?

[smellystudent]

I think the original quote had something missing.
The mean age of 69 to 71 year-olds in Japan is approaching 70

Re:Wrong!

[TGK]

What about the NG-5 [irobotnow.com]? Surely something like this would be an ideal high end application of such a product?

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. -- I. Assimov

Two english stories

[AndroidCat]

Firm to mass-produce robot humanoids [canoe.ca] and Walking robot to be mass produced [ananova.com] (Probably dozens of others versions of this press release.)

For the metrically challenged "39-centimetre-tall" is roughly 16 inches high. Woohoo. That'll scare burglars, especially with those blue balls on the end of its arms. For that price, I think I'll stick to the low-tech version that comes with an environmently friendly wind-up key.

Re:A toy?

[AndroidCat]

Besides, Pusher and Shover robots don't need hands. (Perhaps for the bread part.) They are here to protect you from the Terrible Secret of Space.

Re:Realdoll robotics

[david.given]

Actually, I might pay for that. *grin*

Hey, what's the big deal? It's just a fucking machine...

(With apologies to Ken Macleod!)

Re:3G Phones ?

[Fulkkari]

At least those frickin' robots don't have frickin' laser beams attached to their heads.

hmm...

[templest]

http://www.irobotnow.com ;)

Re:Realdoll robotics

[ptbarnett]

Hey, what's the big deal? It's just a fucking machine...

Not yet. But if you can't wait:

http://www.fuckingmachines.com/ [fuckingmachines.com]

Re:Wrong!

[Hard_Code]

What the Japanese haven't told you is that they plan on turning their elderly INTO robots. That should solve the problem handily.

Re:Human Translation

[Anonymous Coward]

"I found it amusing that Japanese engineers imprinted what is known as their stereotypical behavior (bowing) to the robot. You say, "Hey, Robot! Apologize!" and this robot will bow in front of you without knowing what he did wrong. What a nice pet."

Interestingly enough... my girlfriend already has a robot identical to this!!! *sigh*

Re:But what does it DO?

[EvilXenu]

Boy, time to polish off my knowledge of Scott Adam's text adventure commands, where half the "fun" is trying to determine the right command for the job:

> insert key
Sorry. I can't do that.

> put key
Where?

> place the key in the damn lock you bloody parser!!!
Sorry. I don't know what that means.

> this stupid game sucks
Sorry. I don't know what that means.

> unlock door
You use the key to unlock the door. Score +1 (11 of 500).

I wonder how long before you lose it and boot the robot across the room because the parser responded (yet again) with "Does not compute".

Re:But what does it DO?

[Anonymous Coward]

Robots will become even more useful and desirable when they can start doing particalar tasks:

Wash dishes
Take out trash
Scrub toilet
Change cat box
Vacuum floor
Do laundry


Just make sure you don't get the programming mixed up:

Scrub cat
Vacuum dishes
Take out toilet

etc.

Nobody wants goofy "twiki" robots

[HarveyBirdman]

What they want is sexy, anime babe robots with which they can have sex. The first real, affordable sex robot will sell millions. Porn drove the acceptance of the VCR and the Internet. It will drive VR and robotics. Accept it.

Re:But what does it DO?

[HarveyBirdman]

Robots will become even more useful and desirable when they can start doing particalar tasks:

.

Robot.morph("brittany_spears");
Robot.dress("ling erie", "black", "leather");
Robot.weild("whip", "+3hp");
Robot.runscript("wicked_nun_fantasy");
Robot.undress();
Robot.submit();
Robot.utility(" self_cleaning_mode");
Robot.shutup();
Robot.alar m_set("0600AM");
Robot.sleep();
while Robot.isAsleep
Robot.runscript("monitor_slashdot");
wend
Robot. alarmoff();
Robot.makemebreakfastdammit();

Not good for much until...

[buckeyeguy]

it takes on the 'big wooden rollers' challenge on Takeshi's Castle ("Extreme Elimination" on SpikeTV in US). Let's see it do a face-plant on one of those logs and then smile when it gets out of the mud. Then I'll be impressed.

Re:Human Translation

[Thing 1]

Minimizing the use of joints allowed the cost to remain low.

A robot that can't get you stoned? Think I'll pass...

Re:Wrong!

[MoneyT]

Yeah, but with an opensource robot, by the time you configured him to get you a beer, you could have been at the bar for hours.