Extreme Singing & Dancing Robot!

:: The QRIO Entertainment Robot is Sony's newest corporate goodwill ambassador, an embodiment of the company's dreams of melding artificial intelligence with autonomous movement, communications capabilities, face recognition, space perception, stable bipedal locomotion, and real-time motion control.
++ Robot Tech: Japan / Sony / QRIO

He doesnt just sing and dance; QRIO has a clear singing voice and has fluid moves to rival any of today's pop superstars.

He's also a smart and likeable fellow who can recognize voices and faces, memorize words, stabilize his body so he can walk on uneven surfaces, and get up on his own when he falls down.

He even has capabilities for accessing and sharing information from the Internet, and can even convey intimacy with words and actions.

Featuring the latest technology in voice and face recognition, motion control and communication, Sony QRIO has also contributed to the creation of a new generation of Sony products and technologies.

His posture sensors are taken from the steady-shot technology for the HandyCam; his movements come from the precise machinery assembly of Sony's CD players.

Note From Technophile: QRIO (pronounced "Curio") is still in the early stages of development, but he has already made the first pitch at a San Diego Padres game, conducted for the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in concert, played soccer in Portugal, and performed a traditional Thai dance for a live audience in Bangkok. During a visit to Athens this summer, QRIO even gave a short speech and interacted with visitors. QRIO's development could lead to more exciting technology concepts and innovations from Sony in the future. You can also view him in action on his home page at www.sony.com/QRIO. Since 2003, countries all over the world have been sponsoring special soccer games as part of the RoboCup project. The ultimate goal is for robots to play against humans, and win!

The ultimate goal of the RoboCup project is to by 2050, develop a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that can win against the human world champion team in soccer.

RoboCup is an international joint project to promote AI, robotics, and related fields. It is an attempt to foster AI and intelligent robotics research by providing a standard and complex problem where a wide range of technologies need to be integrated and examined.

RoboCup chose to use soccer games as a central topic of research, because of the challenges that the game represents. In order for a robot team to actually perform a soccer game, various technologies must be incorporated including: design principles of autonomous agents, multi-agent collaboration, strategy acquisition and goal seeking, real-time reasoning, robotics, and sensor-fusion.

Solutions to these challenges can be applied towards solving socially significant challenges as well as other challenges found throughout the industry.

:: Source: [QRIO]
:: Image Credits: Sony.
:: Innovation: Human vs. Humanoid: QRIO is one of the first steps towards developing a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that can win against the human world soccer champion team.
:: Available: 2050
:: Cost: Unknown.

Quote from I, Robot (2004):

"Detective Spooner: Can a robot write a symphony? Can a robot turn a canvas into a beautiful painting?

Sonny: Can you?"