Here's robotics designer ZMP Inc. President Hisashi Taniguchi, holding one of his own Nuvo robots at an industry demonstration this past week. ZMP bills the breadbox-sized 'droid as a guardian of the home but press coverage has focused exclusively on the metal miniature's ability to dance.
Oh, how it dances. A webcam with barrettes for arms and it can massage the floor with its heels and toes until dawn — or whenever you return to the house from an errand. Nuvo responds to voice commands and can transmit image data via cellular phone bands like a mobile security camera. How a lemon-yellow sentry conceals or defends itself from a burglar who would just as well remove a witness and get some cash at the pawn shop in one grab is unknown. Presumably, the answer lies in dancing.
Confused? Perfect! This splash screen advertisement will perplex you even further. It's a full-on challenge to stuffy, bourgeois convention: do you really need to know what it does before you plunk down five grand?