Hitachi's EMIEW works well around lunch breaks by Corina Ciubotaru

Can you imagine that science fiction world where all of our routine tasks will eventually be performed by robots? Where we wouldn't have to make out own coffee, clean our house or carry papers from one desk to another at work? Such a robot is Hitachi's newest creation called EMIEW 2, which is designed to carry out jobs in an office environment. Its abilities were demonstrated on Wednesday, when a crowd of journalists gathered to see it perform, only to be convinced once again of modern science's limitations. The robot performed beautifully until the lunch break came and the wireless connection was jammed, causing the red and white robot to smash into a desk while showing off the ability to maneuver through desks. Losing contact with the laptop controlling it seemed to be the robot's only problem, though; the rest of the demonstration was flawless: EMIEW stood on its feet and its knees, dodged obstacles and waved at the audience. According to Hitachi, it runs on a lithium-ion battery that lasts a day before having to be recharged and it is 80 cm tall, weighing 13 kilograms. Information such as price, release date, and the money spent on research was not released to the public. Hitachi is one of the few companies that still try to develop such a machine, along with Fujitsu and NEC Corp, after Sony stopped the manufacturing of the dog-like robot Aibo. Other companies like Honda Motor Company and Toyota Motor Corp have developed and presented robots that work in their automobile manufacturing plants.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071121/ap_on_hi_te/japan_robot_mishap;_ylt=AqZ.Q42PtfTYzQRfccDgSOojtBAF

by Corina Ciubotaru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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