Robots in the house...

Looks like the Japanese will be the first people to be selling consumer level “helper” robots.  While robots have been around a while now available for consumers, apparently this is the first one to be released with a great degree of communications capacity.  The robot is supposed to help “house sit”, take notes, remind of appointments, and can even monitor the health of a sick person (I didn’t look if it had a “probe” attachment). 

Another advancement of robotics is the ability for robots to “feel” their environment through a synthetic skin.  Very cool!