The 2020 Vision of Robotic Assistants Unveiled
From: New Scientist - 05/24/05
By: Will Knight

The Prototype Robot Exhibition at the World Expo 2005 in Japan will showcase
more than 60 types of robots expected to be commonplace in 2020. Futuristic
medical robots sharing the spotlight will include Nagoya University's EVE and
Hyper-Finger: The humanoid EVE features replica human organs and is designed
as a training tool for doctors and nurses, while Hyper-Finger is a minuscule
robot that can perform microsurgery within an abdominal cavity while being
controlled by only one finger. Examples of robotic companions expected to
inhabit the home of 2020 include Toshiba's ApriAlpha and ApriAttenda, which
are reprogrammable autonomous assistants designed to keep young children or
elderly people engaged; ApriAlpha uses voice recognition to identify its
owner and respond with greetings or reminders, while ApriAttenda employs
cameras to recognize and follow its owner. Also to be demonstrated at the
exhibition is Miraikikai's WallWalker, a domestic bot that clings to windows
and cleans them without human assistance. The show's entertainment-themed
section will feature humanoid robots that an Osaka TV production company has
programmed to tell jokes and perform slapstick, as well as Hiroshima
University's Batting Robot, a practice tool for baseball pitchers. M-Tran III
from Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
is a modular machine that can reconfigure itself to support a four-limbed or
slithering mode of locomotion. Ritsumeikan University's Koharo, meanwhile, is
a spherical robot that can roll or leap through the air by contracting its
sides.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7421 

Links:
ApriAttenda
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20050519005887&newsLang=en

Toshiba touts interactive robots 
http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/hardware/story/0,10801,101902,00.html?source=x10