20.03.2002

japantoday > technology

Sony unveils biped entertainment robot

Sony Corp's small biped entertainment robots perform a dance at their unveiling in Tokyo Tuesday.

TOKYO — Sony Corp on Tuesday introduced a prototype small biped entertainment robot "SDR-4X" with advanced walking and sound recognition functions.

The new robot "can adapt its performance to its environment and situations found in the home," the consumer electronics maker said.

The SDR-4X, which is 58 centimeters high and weighs 6.5 kilograms, has two charge coupled device (CCD) color cameras and seven sound sensors embedded in its head, 38 joints in its body and other devices.

These devices enable walking on irregular and tilted surface plus posture retention control under external pressure, Sony said.

The SDR-4X can also recognize individual persons and memorize faces of up to 10 people as well as engage in simple conversations because it understands 50,000 to 60,000 words.

Among other functions, it can sing, dance and automatically get up when it falls over, the company said.

Sony will add more improvements to the SDR-4X in a bid to put a household entertainment robot on the market by the end of this year. The new product is expected to be priced "close to a luxury passenger car," a company official said. (Kyodo News)

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