tour guide robot

Toyota announced today a tour guide robot (with a cool hair-do) that will show visitors around its exhibition hall in Toyota City. There's not much detail about the robot named Robina, but the press release says the wheeled robot can communicate with visitors verbally and using gestures. It can also recognize the visitors' nametags and engage in coversation with them as well as sign autographs with its jointed fingers (which, ahem, we said was coming). Finally it's capable of autonomous navigation. Toyota hopes to monitor the robot and apply what it learns to developing future robots.

While robots like these are a show of a company's technological prowess, Toyota is developing the robots to assist with domestic chores, nursing and medical care, manufacturing and personal transport.