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Fujisoft holds contest to find new uses for its Parlo robot

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Parlo, photo via Engadget The most famous robot in Japan might very well be Sony’s famous dog robot Aibo. It was first released way back in 1999 but was subsequently retired in 2005. But Aibo paved the way for other robots to invade the consumer market. One such robot is Parlo, a communication-robot developed by Fujisoft. First released back in March of 2010 as a product for educational institutions, the robot is 40 cm tall and weighs 1.6 kg. And since June of 2012, Parlo has been used in over 50 facilities nationwide, especially in nursing homes and day care centers. Parlo can communicate with seniors or even dance or play quizzes or other games. It will even turn when it hears your voice, and greet you as you approach. The company recently announced that it will hold a programming contest to gather ideas to better use robots in our daily lives. There will be two contests (one for ideas, and one for programming), with the themes being: “Parlo brings happiness to elders” and “What if Parlo was at your home?” Ideas will be accepted from June 15th to July 20th, followed by the programming contest which will run from…

Parlo-FujisoftParlo, photo via Engadget

The most famous robot in Japan might very well be Sony’s famous dog robot Aibo. It was first released way back in 1999 but was subsequently retired in 2005. But Aibo paved the way for other robots to invade the consumer market. One such robot is Parlo, a communication-robot developed by Fujisoft.

First released back in March of 2010 as a product for educational institutions, the robot is 40 cm tall and weighs 1.6 kg. And since June of 2012, Parlo has been used in over 50 facilities nationwide, especially in nursing homes and day care centers. Parlo can communicate with seniors or even dance or play quizzes or other games. It will even turn when it hears your voice, and greet you as you approach.

The company recently announced that it will hold a programming contest to gather ideas to better use robots in our daily lives. There will be two contests (one for ideas, and one for programming), with the themes being: “Parlo brings happiness to elders” and “What if Parlo was at your home?” Ideas will be accepted from June 15th to July 20th, followed by the programming contest which will run from August 15th to November 20th.

The winners of the competition will be announced at the 25th National Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament which will be held on December 15th. Parlo is not available for consumers just yet, but the first place winners in the competition will get one, along with a cool 100,000 yen (about $1,000).

Is your iPhone dirty? Japan has a miniature zamboni robot that’ll clean it!

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In a recent survey, 88% of smartphone users responded that they are often bothered by finger prints and other marks on their screens. And since not everyone has a piece of microfiber readily on hand, this is clearly a first world problem that absolutely must be solved. And fittingly, we have an equally first world solution. Use Automee-S, a tiny robotic cleaner that was just announced by TOMY Company, Ltd. Home cleaning robots like the Roomba are pretty popular in Japan. And TOMY applied the same concept to smartphones and tablets. In fact, it was way back in 1985 when they built their first cleaning robot named the SO-G (which means “cleaning” in Japanese) which uses brooms to clean. The company describes the Automee as an invention that combines practicality and playfulness. When you turn it on, it is propelled by three wheels on the bottom, and cleaning paper wipes off all fingerprints and oil on the screen. This toy is smart enough to detect the edge of whatever device it is cleaning and turns itself around to avoid from falling off. In this way, the Automee covers the entire surface, making sure everything is nice and clean. If you’d…

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A zamboni for your iPad or iPhone!

In a recent survey, 88% of smartphone users responded that they are often bothered by finger prints and other marks on their screens. And since not everyone has a piece of microfiber readily on hand, this is clearly a first world problem that absolutely must be solved. And fittingly, we have an equally first world solution.

Use Automee-S, a tiny robotic cleaner that was just announced by TOMY Company, Ltd. Home cleaning robots like the Roomba are pretty popular in Japan. And TOMY applied the same concept to smartphones and tablets. In fact, it was way back in 1985 when they built their first cleaning robot named the SO-G (which means “cleaning” in Japanese) which uses brooms to clean.

automee-s-1

The company describes the Automee as an invention that combines practicality and playfulness. When you turn it on, it is propelled by three wheels on the bottom, and cleaning paper wipes off all fingerprints and oil on the screen. This toy is smart enough to detect the edge of whatever device it is cleaning and turns itself around to avoid from falling off. In this way, the Automee covers the entire surface, making sure everything is nice and clean. If you’d like to see it in action, there’s a video over on the company’s website.

The approximate cleaning time is four minutes for smartphones (12cm x 6cm) and eight minutes for tablets (24cm x 19cm). Automee itself is about 7 cm in width and weighs 82g. It comes in four color variations: orange, blue, pink, and white. The two circles in front of the robot intended to mimic eyes, giving it a pet-like feel. The company is even planning to release other kinds in the future such as trains, cars, and animals.

Automee-S will be sold in a range of retail stores all over Japan, as well as online. It costs 1,575 yen (or about $17) and goes on sale on March 28 [1].

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  1. For those who read the headline and wondered what a ‘zamboni’ is, here you go.  ↩