QRIO
Howard Stringer (Chairman & CEO of Sony Corp. of America) was on PBS today, giving a talk at the LA Town Hall. He displayed Qrio a toddler-sized machine in an aluminium sleeper and a space helmet--can navigate an obstacle course, right itself after a fall, sense heat and surfaces, recognize people through their voice or face, and respond with gestures or words to questions... It dances. It can hold a conversation. And in about a year, humanoid robot Qrio will be knocking on doors, if Sony's plans fall into place.
---- QRIO knows your face. It's equipped with a camera and the ability to analyze the images it sees. It detects faces and identifies who they are. It can even learn the faces of people it just met. And it responds to specific people individually, adding to the fun. In the future, it might be employed along with camera-equipped appliances to provide personalized services to people.
---- QRIO was designed to understand spoken words. The seven microphones in its head identify a person's voice and the direction from which it is speaking, and even pick out the words it says. QRIO can even understand the voices of unidentified speakers. It knows tens of thousands of words already, but can also learn new ones. (I want one!)
(Also interesting, from this other article on Qrio is the description of how Japan, according to Nobuyuki Idei, CEO of Sony, may be coming out of the "big tunnel of recession" mostly because of its shift "from a corporate manufacturing society to a cultural society".)
Stringer's talk today emphasized: the increasing portability, globalization and personalization of media and the access to it. He also had a lot to say about piracy. Couldn't find this talk online, but more on Stringer here - as interviewed for Frontline's great "the monster that ate hollywood" episode.