Robot with soft hands can prepare meals, gently enslave humanity
![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Y54hJre7s5ZYL8WoJO0qBw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTQyMDtoPTc0MA--/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/_EPvNES7jJsRRrcWr2AxFQ--~B/aD00MDA7dz0yMjc7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2007/11/twendy-one.jpg)
Sure, this ET-looking robot from Japan called "Twendy-One" looks adorable, but that doesn't mean we trust it -- even if it does boast hands gentle enough to grip bread and enough smarts to respond to greetings and serve breakfast. Designer Shigeki Sugano says Twendy-One is "the first robot in the world with this much system integration," and the five-foot tall, 245-pound bot doesn't pack all that tech in there on the cheap -- several million dollars have gone into development over the past seven years. The team is hoping to get costs down to $200,000 by 2010, but first they need to extend Twendy-One's 15 minute battery life and sort out some heat issues. We're willing to give them all the time they want -- anything to delay the inevitable toast-bearing robot apocalypse.
[Via Washington Post]