In the tradition of automative humanitarians, Mitsubishi-Heavy Industries Ltd. robot Wakamaru — like a caution-yellow, beveled Two-OneBee — was, as it were, designed and manufactured to serve. Wakamaru is a homebody, capable of visually recognizing those with whom it amicably chats through a lexicon worth ten thousand words, and programmed to assume domestic roles that range from valet to nanny to sentry. Having promoted itself at public events such as the Expo 2005 this past June, the droid is part advocate, too. In the compact and adorable Wakamaru the industry has a propitious example of, as late British humorist Douglas Adams put it, "your plastic pal who's fun to be with." Another distinctive and functional Japanese robot, another cadenza in the vaulting rhetoric of anthropomorphization:
Mitsubishi-Heavy said it would be the first time a robot with communication ability for home use has been sold."This is the opening of an era in which human beings and robots can coexist," it said.
Wakamaru will retail for fifteen grand, so reconciling Household Budget versus Machine may be the first order of business.
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