At the time of its launch in 2015, Erica was dubbed not only the most beautiful but also the most intelligent android. Several other female-like robots have made headlines since then, but the Japanese ...

For centuries, hospitality in Japan has meant kimono-clad innkeepers attentive to the last detail. Now, androids from the company that licenses Hello Kitty will staff a new hotel. A theme park near ...

While Americans excel at producing deadly robots of militaristic persuasions, the Japanese are arguably the most competent designers of eerily human-like robots. Behold Kodomoroid and Otonaroid, two ...

That is one goal of the Japanese government's $37.7 million Humanoid Robotics Project (HRP), which aims to market within a few years robots that can operate power shovels, assist construction workers ...

Osaka, Japan – Even if an android's appearance is so realistic that it could be mistaken for a human in a photograph, watching it move in person can feel a bit unsettling. It can smile, frown, or ...

Asimo is an ongoing project for Honda's R&D department. The first prototype was completed in 2000; the second generation arrived in 2005. Three research teams -- in Europe, Japan and the US -- are ...

Beginning in the 1960’s, the rise of manufacturing for the automotive industry and the concomitant rise of industrial robots played an indispensable role in powering Japan’s economic miracle. By the ...

It looks like a washing machine on wheels, but the bulky contraption vacuuming the hallways of a Tokyo high-rise is a robot. Japanese researchers hope that robots like this one will be the answer to a ...