Great technology!

Robots that help the disabled, and also those thatplay violin APTokyo: Compared to a virtuoso, its rendition was atrifle stilted and, well, robotic. But Toyota’s newrobot plays a pretty solid Pomp and Circumstanceon the violin. The five-foot-tall, all-white robot, shown Thursday,used its mechanical fingers to push the stringscorrectly and bowed with its other arm, coordinatingthe movements well. The company has already shown robots that roll aroundto work as guides and have fingers dexterous enough toplay the trumpet. Katsuaki Watanabe, the President of Toyota, saidrobotics will be a core business for the company incoming years. They will test robots at hospitals,facilities and other places starting next year, hesaid. And the company hopes to put what it calls“partner robots” to real use by 2010, he said. “We want to create robots that are useful for peoplein everyday life,” he said. Watanabe also presented a picture of the future ofrobotic health care. Wheelchair-like robots, called‘mobility robots’, which were also displayed Thursday,would offer “bed-to-bed” services to people, includingthe elderly and the sick, just like cars take people“door-to-door.” At the demonstration, a man got on a mobility robot, amotorised two-wheeled chair, and then scooted around.The moving machine can also go up and downslopes, and over bumps, without upsetting the personsitting on the chair, because the wheels could adjustto such changes. Toyota said it is working with universities to speedup robotics development.