KDDI Develops a Robot to Interact with your Mobile Phone

You name it, you got it. More and more features are being included in mobile phones every release. That is why, the cell phone is becoming one of the most important object in a person’s life – next to his wallet and car keys. But then again, a wallet and a car key could, if not already, be integrated into mobile phones.

KDDI, a Japanese carrier, has developed a robot companion that seeks to bridge the gap between a phone and its user. A prototype for this was shows at the CEATEC expo near Tokyo. What it basically does is gather information about the user from his cell phone and automatically generates suggestions on different aspects of the user’s life.

An example given by the company is on a user’s diet. Given the user’s preferences when it comes to food, the robot, named Polaris, offers suggestion on what to eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Yeah, you can probably just run a software in you cell phone that could practically do the same thing but a robot talking is way cooler and cuter. The robot is spherical and opens up to reveal a cradle on which a cell phone can sit. While in the cradle the phone communicates various data to the robot, which is able to manipulate the information and provide helpful suggestions to its user.

In addition to the user’s diet, the robot would also collect other information in a life log and communicate with the user by displaying suggestions and data on a TV. KDDI likened the data it would provide to that coming from a personal secretary, and said it would deliver essential information when you need it, wherever you may be and with whomever you may be talking.