Walking Partner Robot will hold your hand

It seems that the crack team of scientists behind the Partner Ballroom Dance Robot have turned their attention to more practical and less creepy goals as of late, recently unveiling a walking-assistant robot that'll do good deeds so you don't have to. Descriptively dubbed the Walking Partner Robot, the brightly-colored bot is tricked out with sensors that can detect the presence of obstacles in its path while simultaneously keeping an eye on the behavior of the user, providing voice warnings when it senses danger and able to slam on the brakes if they go unheeded. One of the big areas the developers see the Walking Partner Robot being used is in medical rehabilitation applications, though they expect to make the bot commercially available "soon" with a price tag of ¥500,000 (about $4,200), so you'll presumably be able to get one of your own to recover from your next technology-related injury.

[LittleJoe @ Oct 20th 2006 11:57AM]

Now if only it wasnt the size of a bulldozer.

[Paul @ Oct 20th 2006 12:06PM]

I, for one, welcome our new pimped-out, walker style robot overlords.

[Juice @ Oct 20th 2006 12:06PM]

I, for one, welcome our hand holding neon colored overlords.

[Juice @ Oct 20th 2006 12:07PM]

Agggh, Paul you beat me to it. :P

[Chocolate Starfish @ Oct 20th 2006 12:07PM]

This thing would be a lot better if they added a platform for you to stand upon and save yourself the walking. And then, I guess for those long rides I'd like to sit down so lets add a chair. Somewhere to carry my things would be nice, so lets put a basket on the front...

hrmm...

http://www.mobility4life.co.uk/images/electric_rasf7585.jpg

If only the Rascal could talk to me and let me know when I'm about to run into a big pile of sand.

[Paul @ Oct 20th 2006 1:10PM]

Now THAT would make a great commercial for day time TV.

[strider_mt2k @ Oct 20th 2006 12:16PM]

Do they speak Bocce?

[John Stracke @ Oct 20th 2006 1:02PM]

It's like a second language to them...very like, since they don't even have a first language.

[Matt B @ Oct 20th 2006 1:45PM]

This would be great for the elderly folks who just don't want to shed the biped in them quite yet.

[apeguero @ Oct 20th 2006 2:21PM]

I can see a Japan 30 - 50 years from now where most of the work done is by these "geniously thought out", silly looking robots. Not just this particular model but also all of the other robots we hear are developed just about daily over there. I can also see a Japan 30 - 50 years from now with a very high, you guessed it, unemployment rate.

Keep it up Japan. Remember what you did to the Automobile Union workers with your very effective production line robotic technology.

[Nathan Chan @ Oct 20th 2006 7:34PM]

They look like giant Rock'em Sock'em Robots!!!!

[gal d. @ Oct 25th 2006 8:33AM]

great robot, although it is still too expensive. I believe that it can be sell for less than a $1000 cause the sensors + the processor + the motors are available in the market at low prices.