The Japanese Families Are Recruiting Robots

Wakamaru is the name of the latest robot, or to be more precise the "she robot" Mitsubishi plans to give to the Japanese families.


She, the Wakamaru that is, is unlike other machines (even though it has the same metal arms and a yellow mask) because it (she) has a personality. And not any personality, but a friendly one.


"The she robot" has the capacity to memorize up to 10 persons and to talk to them with a female voice. Wakamura can communicate the phone messages, the e-mails and the scheduled appointments. The robot is able to achieve all these because it (she) is connected to the Internet, so every morning a suave voice will announce the headlines and the weather forecast.

Robots similar to Wakamaru are currently available in limited numbers, Mitsubishi announcing 100 units, which don't come cheap, the price for a companion is not quite small: 1.5 million yens ($16,000).


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