Friday, June 22, 2007

As long as they don't come up with a robot shrink

From geekology, The HRP-3 Promet Mk-II is a robot designed to take over blue-collar jobs. It stands 5' 3", weighs 150 pounds, and is part of a 5-year joint effort by Kawada Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) to develop a humanoid robot with sufficient skills to enter the workforce. Pink Tentacle writes:

'[It's] tough enough to trudge through heavy rains, carry out disaster relief operations and work in environments hazardous to humans, demonstrated its skills at a June 21 press conference at Kawada Industries headquarters in Tochigi prefecture. In addition to flaunting its ability to walk on slippery surfaces, the robot showed off its electric screwdriver wielding talents by taking the opportunity to tighten up some loose screws.'

I don't see this thing actually replacing any employees considering it costs $3.3 million. Maybe I'm just out of touch with society, but that seems slightly higher than the average blue-collar worker's salary. Slightly.

1 comment:

Octopunk said...

Oh, wow, a screw gun.

Where's the giant gleaming sword? Voltron had a giant gleaming sword, bust out one of those and I'll be impressed.

Salem's Lot 1979 and Salem's Lot 2024

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