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Okay this is nothing new really, we all have remote controllers at home, some of us are lucky enough to have a home network hooked up to all appliances so that you can control the microwave in your kitchen all the way from your neighbor’s house.
Fuji Housing is showcasing this new household robot at their showrooms in Osaka. The teddybear-ish Chapit is actually smarter than it looks. The voice-recognition capability allows the Chapit to understand when you shout at it (up to 10,000 different commands), hook it up to your home network then you will have an electronic slave to turn your lights on and off (video), switch channels and get on to the in-ter-neto (video). The built-in camera allows you to do video conferencing with your friends on webcam or on 3G video-calls, you can also check your hair on the screen just before leaving the house (video).
The Chapit is due to launch in 2008, with a lot more added features comparing to the recent model, price is projected to be around $1700. —Sam Chan
