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Fed up with increasingly hard-to-use remote controls? Researchers at
Japan's Toshiba have developed a small, talking robot that can learn
how to do it for you.
Instead of trying to remember which button to
press on a remote control, users could simply ask the table-top
robot to turn on the television or other appliances using its own
infrared signal, Toshiba said.
The 21-centimetre (8.4-inch) tall ApriPoco robot
-- which is in the development stage -- is equipped with sensors
that can detect infrared rays from remote controls.
"What did you do now?" the robot, with
big eyes and a round torso, would ask when the user clicks on a
television programme.
The robot would then remember the link between
the user's answer and what was done with the remote control.
It is already possible to give verbal commands
to car-navigation systems and other machines, but the user must
remember certain commands to do so, whereas the ApriPoco can learn a
range of instructions.
While users might get upset if a conventional
machine makes a mistake, the researchers hope that the robot's
child-like appeal will make people more patient and willing to help
it learn.
Such interaction has proved to work well in
trials, particularly with people in their 60s, who may be feeling as
if they were teaching words to their own grandchildren, Toshiba
said.
"The ApriPoco is believed to be useful for
elderly people who tend to shun the complicated functions of
household electronics," the company said.
Toshiba hopes to develop the robot for a
commercial launch but has not yet decided when it might go on sale.
-- AFP
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