Then there are concerns about these gadgets replacing personal relationships, (i.e., why have lunch with a coworker when you might have more in common with your RoBoHon?).
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“RoboHon is a phone you have never seen before”.
Sharp might just have scored a coup in the mobile phone industry.
When used as a phone, it raises its arms and bends its legs slightly forward to mimic the shape of a handset – and as you can see from the photo below, it looks kind of embarrassing to use. “Don’t you want to take RoboHon with you everywhere?” The RoBoHoN is an always happy robot that can do everything that a normal phone can, from making and receiving calls to receiving emails. There’s also speakerphone mode… which turns the RoBoHon into a walking, talking embodiment of the person on the other end of the line. It can read messages and answer with a dictated reply.
It also has a calendar function that allows it to verbally remind users of events scheduled throughout the day, and can accept spoken commands to add other reminders, such as shopping lists. It has support for Wi-Fi connectivity if one is willing to browse the Internet on its tiny display.
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The new smartphone/robot is nothing like anything in the smartphone market today because RoBoHon, instead of a flat rectangular build, has the body of a robot butler. With a height of about 7.7 inches and tipping the scales at 13.75 ounces, the little guy isn’t going to set any records for its form factor. As a phone, it’s nothing groundbreaking in terms of specs. The video also shows RoboHon directing people to squeeze in as it takes a picture, all without any apparent instruction from a user. Interestingly, RoboHon has been developed in collaboration with Tomotaka Takahashi, the RoboGarage CEO who most famously helped create Kirobo, the world’s first “robot astronaut” that made its way to the global Space Station.
