Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Just Before The Robot Uprising

While receptionist robots are nothing new, bright yellow ones that sing cheerful songs are. Developed by Mitsubishi, a number of Wakamaru robots (Japanese for "delightful yellow punching bag with kick-action detachable head") have been purchased by temp agencies in the country for use as dispatch workers. The highlights of the robots' capabilities include:
"Face recognition (search for and follow faces), Basic manual tasks, Good listener (voice recognition capabilities), Good verbal skills with customers (vocabulary of 10,000 words), Sings cheerful songs, Escort visitors to different destinations within your office building."
I don't know about you, but this thing sounds like a dream come true for the office. Nothing quite says "I had a great day at work" like drop-kicking the head off of a $15,000 robot because it wouldn't stop singing long enough to make coffee.

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