According to foreign media report, Panasonic recently launched a robot called Nicobo. It is fixed on a mobile base, so it can rotate left and right and look up and down. Nicobo is jointly developed by Panasonic and the robotics technicians of Toyohashi University of Technology’s Michio Oka Lab. It also includes a camera for recognizing human faces, multiple directional microphones for recognizing sounds and turning attention, and touch sensors to know when Being touched or hugged.
Nicobo does not need to provide laundry services or clean the floor, but provides simple companionship. Therefore, when someone strokes it, the robot’s tail will start to wave. Nicobo can also speak, but at first it only speaks one word (similar to the limited but expressive vocabulary of Guardians of the Galaxy Groot), but in the end, it can repeat complete sentences.
According to Gizmodo, Panasonic only plans to produce a few hundred Nicobos; it pre-orders through its own crowdfunding platform, and as of 6 hours after the event started, all of these products have been claimed. (The cost of Nicobo is about $360.) If people manage to get one, they are expected to pay about $10 a month for software updates and other things.
William Douglas has worked as financial analyst until his retirement. He is a well-known research director and portfolio manager for more than 5 years. After many years in the market, he dedicated all his time to write articles highlighting different financial problems and world news. He also cover news from all over the world.