Look out, Pepper : you have some fresh competition. Hitachi has unveiled EMIEW3, its first humanoid assistant robot built for full-fledged commercial service. Like its SoftBank-made counterpart, it’s designed to help you find your way around stores and public facilities. It’s particularly focused on tourists, as it can switch languages on the fly. However, its edge may simply be its ability to cope with real-world situations. It’s much faster than Pepper (3.7MPH versus 1.2MPH), so it’s more likely to keep up with humans; it can also get back up if it falls down, and listen to you in noisy street environments. The machine also reflects a lot of lessons learned from its predecessor and beyond. For instance, it knows to slow down near corners so that it won’t smack into someone. It identifies people asking for help, too, and will approach on its own. Its biggest drawback is simply that it’s not as personable as Pepper (you’re just looking at a pair of expressionless eyes), and doesn’t have a built-in display to show information. It’s going to be a while before you see EMIEW3 in service, as Hitachi doesn’t expect it to be ready until 2018. However, Hitachi has grand ambitions for its third-generation hardware. It’s hoping to offer the new robot beyond Japan, so you might just witness this little helper guiding you through offices and stores in your corner of the world. Via: Nikkei , I4U Source: Hitachi
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Hitachi’s answer to Pepper the robot is swifter and sturdier
kkleiner writes “Recently developed noodle-making robots have now been put into operation in over 3,000 restaurants in China. Invented by a noodle restaurant owner, each unibrow-sporting robot currently costs 10,000 yuan ($1,600), which is only three months wages for an equivalent human noodle cook. As the cost of the robot continues to drop, more noodle shops are bound to displace human workers for the tirelessly working cheaper robots.” Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
DeviceGuru writes “A handful of innovative high-tech startups have recently emerged to create a new market: remote telepresence robots. With one of these robotic Avatars, you can wander around in the remote environment, chatting with coworkers and managers, attending meetings, and solving problems encountered through those interactions. InformationWeek’s Telepresence Robot Smackdown compares five such bots — the MantaroBot TeleMe, VGo Communications VGo, Anybots QB, Suitable Technologies Beam, and Revolve Robotics Kubi — and includes short videos demonstrating each. As the article concludes, ‘bear in mind that what we’re witnessing here is the emergence of a new industry; and if Moore’s Law applies here as it does to so many IT spheres, it won’t be long before these gadgets are inexpensive, commonplace, and far more flexible and intelligent.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.