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Telerobotic Shopper Lets You Hit the Malls Using a Mobile Phone
Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 12:00 AM on July 13, 2008
Japan, the land of using technology to solve problems we didn't know we had, has come out with a new robot that will let people shop at malls without ever leaving their home. Robot developer tmsuk revealed a telerobotic shopper that can be controlled using NTT DoCoMo's mobile phone technology.
In the demo, unveiled at the Izutuya deparment store in Kitakyushu, Japan, a sick grandmother went shopping with her granddaughter using the robot and a video-capable mobile phone. Girl and bot sauntered to the hat section, shuffled through what was available, and picked out one to purchase.
So what about this makes it better than having your granddaughter surf Internet clothes outlets with you back at home? Being the kind of person that abhors shopping at malls, I really have no clue. Tmsuk, however, is convinced that its "3D communications" technology will soon have telerobotic machines wandering around all the world's fashion capitals. [Pink Tentacle]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
iCarmen 2.0-Yellow Free Edition!
Posted 12:37 AM 13/7/08
LOOK! ITS "THAT GIRL"!
iCarmen 2.0-Yellow Free Edition!
scrag
Posted 1:11 AM 13/7/08
I thought the internet was the way to shop at malls without ever leaving home?
scrag
jimtobias
Posted 1:47 AM 13/7/08
wake me up when they have one that can teletactilely squeeze-test a melon.
jimtobias
Monty
Posted 2:05 AM 13/7/08
You are missing the most important element of life in Japan, Elaine: Everything goes better with robots. Once you have gone shopping with a bucket of bolts, there is no going back. Or, so I have been told.
Monty
Noobs-R-Us
Posted 3:29 AM 13/7/08
I thought of this years ago. ALthough I was thinking in terms of having shoppers in another country, say France or Italy, doing the shopping for you. That was when the exchange rate was still great. Many of the products from foreign lands never make it to the U.S. Often they're cheaper and better.
Noobs-R-Us
dingus
Posted 7:50 AM 13/7/08
I want to roll one of these into a Sharper Image and tear shit up.
dingus
ultrasonoro
Posted 7:47 AM 13/7/08
What happens if you make the robot steal stuff? Or touch random girls butts at the mall? I'm in.
ultrasonoro
schrodingers_cat
Posted 6:18 PM 13/7/08
I see the positive implications for the physically disabled. But, as for the rest of us -- do we really need another reason to sit at home on our fat asses?
schrodingers_cat