Hasta La Gadget!

Hiroshi Ishiguro’s over-sized “baby” robot, CB2, has made a lot of progress since we last reported on him…er..it, in 2007. According to a report on Breitbart.tv, the 73-pound, roughly 4-foot-tall robot can now walk with assistance, and navigate its way around a room. It’s also very adept at creeping people out by following them with its inky-black eyes. Apparently CB2 has been programmed to record facial emotions, much as a baby would, to help it better respond to human interaction. The Breitbart report also notes that just below its gray, silicon skin are a host of sensors so it can react to all kinds of subtle touches.

The researchers’ goal is to have CB2 talking–in a child-like-way–within two years. The rest of report recounts much of what we already know about the rapid pace of robotics development in Japan. There is, however, a bizarre diversion to Kokoro (a subsidiary of Hello Kitty manufacturer Sanrio). The company actually makes some life-size robots of its own, and its planning department manager, Yuko Yokota, spoke to Breitbart. His words really speak for themselves:

“Robots have hearts,” said Yokota. “They don’t look human unless we put souls in them. When manufacturing a robot, there comes a moment when light flickers in its eyes. That’s when we know our work is done.” 

Umm, yeah. Remind me never to buy one of those robots.