14 DAY TRIAL // Some kids want to go off on their own with their parents none the wiser, but others tend to feel lonely when they are thrust in a new world, like a new school or town.
Fortunately, Japanese researchers from the Yamagata University have lonely boys and girls covered.
Their idea is of a robot, dubbed MH-2, which sits on a person's shoulder and allows friends or family members to interact with the owner from wherever they happen to be.
What's more, since it has hands, a head and a nice hat with cameras on both sides (give the one controlling it a 360-degree 3D view of the area), the robot can even perform some human-like gestures.
All it takes is for the one controlling the robot to stand in front of a motion capture device like Kinect or this better alternative.