The Twendy-One robot took over a decade of research by Professor Shigeki Sugano and his team of researchers at Waseda University, Japan, where they were assisted by over 20 private companies to come up with a robot that is able to co-exist with humans in an aging society. This seems to be a phenomenon with Japan (and perhaps Singapore in the near future), so robots might be their only hope when it comes to companionship and caregiving during one’s golden years. Twendy-One’s most notable feature would be its mechanical passive impedance mechanism that allows it to adapt to unexpected external forces. With a four-fingered hand, it is able to pick up tiny flat objects without a problem, featuring soft finger tips but a hard nail. If you want a caregiver that doesn’t gossip behind your back or poison you slowly over time to have a bite at your inheritance, then you might want to consider forking out around $110,000 to $210,000 for the Twendy-One.