The Hindu : Soon for sale: Nuvo the robot

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 03, 2004

International

International

Soon for sale: Nuvo the robot

TOKYO, MARCH 2. A Japanese company today unveiled the prototype of a human-shaped walking robot. The mass production of the robot would start by the end of the year. Each will cost 500,000 yen (about Rs. 2 lakhs).

The ZMP, which is based here, has so far only made robots for research and rental. The company expects to sell about 3,000 of the Nuvo model (in picture), which will be manufactured by another company.

Although other Japanese companies have created humanoids, the machines have merely taken part in events and are not on sale. Sony's Aibo, the doglike robot, has been mass-produced and starts at 85,000 yen (about Rs. 35,000).

The 39-cm-tall Nuvo walks on two legs, picks itself up when it falls, recognises voice commands such as "advance" and "stop," and is controlled from a cellphone. It has a digital camera in its head that relays images of its surroundings to a videophone.

Its developers said that Nuvo's design was kept simple with mass production in mind. While similar offerings from Sony and Honda resemble a child in their shape and movement, Nuvo has a more mechanical look: its head is lodged into its chest and its arms are steel rods with fingerless balls for hands. But developers hope its price will someday come down to the level of a laptop computer.

But cost cuts remain a challenge. — AP

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