Another day, another Japanese robot baby. A Japanese roboticist, Hiroshi Ishiguro, just unveiled a new robot baby today called the Elfoid. This miniature anthropomorphic robot has the face and arms of a baby and is the size of a cellphone. It is a telepresence robot, that transmits your presence from one Elfoid to another through the use of a motion-capture system and a microphone to record your voice. Whatever you say and how you move when you communicate to the Elfoid will be reproduced on the other Elfoid you are communicating with. Apparently this sort of interaction will allow Elfoid users to “feel each other’s presence”. Since we haven’t had the opportunity to play with the device, we can’t say for sure, but with a toy that looks as freaky as the Elfoid – it’s going to take a lot of convincing to believe it’s my friend on the other line instead of a possessed doll. If the Elfoid makes its way to our shores, would you consider picking one up? Head here for more images of the telepresence robot.
Filed in . Read more about Baby, Japan, Robot, Telepresence and Voice.