Toshiba’s ApriPoco is an 8.4-inch tall robot which can be used to control electrical appliances thanks to IR and verbal commands. ApriPoco can learn over time and no, it is not a white Pokémon. Then, there’s the robotic table that has motors and which can be moved via remote control.  It comes with a motorized chair and is designed for people who are unable to move furniture.

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The IRT lab at the University of Tokyo has a new kitchen ‘bot that cleans dishes and glasses without breaking them, which is some feat. They are also working on another model that acts like a maid and cleans your rooms as well as doing the laundry.

[via Plastic Pals]

The nanny ‘bot can operate for 8 hours on a 2-hour charge, and has built-in environmental sensors, which can detect a gas leak and contact its owner via email or text messaging. If you’ve got a granny that needs company, the nanny bot will engage your elderly relative in conversation. It can also perform remote visual check-ins thanks to its camera and display.

The makers of the robot expect the nanny robot will be available in 5 years (!) and will sell for 10,000 Yuan (appx. $1500 USD).

[via Plastic Pals]

The team had help from over 20 different companies to design this robot, which could arguably be able to co-exist with humans. It’s made to help the elderly. What’s really amazing is how dexterous it is. It can even pick up small and flat objects with its four-fingered hand, soft finger tips, and hard fingernails.

The ‘bot can also bend at the waist. This allows it to pick up things lying on the floor. It is also strong enough to support the weight of a midget (77lbs). Actually, they say that it can support a person, but I don’t know many people who weigh 77lbs. Maybe they’ve got more of those in Japan.

Its body is covered in a soft, shock-absorbent silicone rubber, and it’s got tactile sensors, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and a large LED array in its chest. The robot measures 4’9″ tall and weighs 244 lbs. The Twendy-One robot is expected to sell between $110,000 to $210,000 (USD) in 2015.

[via Plastic Pals]

In Back to the Future II, there were these great floating skateboards. I think that I’ve wanted one ever since I saw the movie, and now it looks like they’re getting closer to a real thing.

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Naturally, it’s the Japanese who have come up with this ingenious floating chair to ferry around the elderly. It was developed by researchers at Kobe Gakiun University. The chair has a bunch of air jets that allow it to float, kind of like how an air hockey table works.

For now, the levitating chair is just a prototype, but I’m sure that the researchers will come up with loads of applications for this personal hovercraft.

[Robot.M via Crave]

This odd-little robot named Sil-bot is the brainchild of KIST’s Center for Intelligent Robotics. They are currently developing it in Korea. Sil-bot is designed to act as a companion for the elderly, playing games and capable of carrying on basic conversations. The robot also has a spatial camera system that allows it to navigate interiors without bumping into walls.

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You got to admit that it’s kind of cute. Its arms look like the wings of a penguin and it’s got some funny facial expressions too. One weird thing is that strange appendage that’s sprouted between its legs. Maybe it’s capable of being a robotic boyfriend as well?

Currently, the Sil-bot costs around $35,000 (USD), but I think that it will get cheaper once it’s mass-produced, that is, if it is ever produced at all.

[via Ubergizmo]

What actually surprises me even more is that it’s currently being tested in Kyoto, Japan. It’s part of a wave of new technology helping you do your groceries. It’s part of a form of retail assistance, that uses a network of sensors and wireless devices.

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It’s shown here helping the elderly in doing their grocery rounds. It’s part of a whole process, which starts at home. The user enters their shopping list into a special mobile device. When the shopper arrives at the store, the robot will sense this device and greet the shopper. Then, the robot will help the shopper around the store, carrying the grocery load, and reminding the user of any items that were forgotten. It can also recommend further items. For now, it’s in testing in the Apita-Seikadai supermarket in Kyoto, Japan, until next March.

[via PopSci]

It may be useful for really old people, but otherwise I think this is a bad idea. How will you learn to type like everyone else if you don’t use a normal keyboard? It’s kinda like learning how to drive using a car that has its gas and brake pedals reversed. But we at technabob are staunch defenders of democracy and of your right to a keyboard with alphabetically arranged keys, so if you want a Hunt and Peck keyboard, be my guest. firstStreet – makers of the old-people-friendly go computer – is selling the Hunt and Peck Keyboard for $30 (USD). Weirdly enough, the go computer’s keyboard layout is QWERTY. Go figure.

[via Likecool]

The first thing that you’ll notice about the Go Computer is its keyboard, which has magnified letters and symbols on it to mark the keys. It’s mostly a win, until you get a closer look at some of the keys:

You might consider this nitpicking, but I’ll point it out anyway: the symbols on the backspace key and the keys grouped with delete and print screen are all  abbreviated. How is that useful to a non-techie? Would they be more familiar with “BS” than “backspace”?  “Delete” isn’t even “Del”, it’s “DL”. And look at how small the backspace key is. The keyboard was designed for users who are either unfamiliar with the layout of the keys or have weak eyesight right? Considering that they’re bound to make a lot of typing mistakes, shouldn’t the key that erases those mistakes be easily identifiable and accessible?

Fortunately the on-screen interface is much cleaner and simpler than the keyboard; the list in the middle of the screen pops out when the user clicks the GO button. The main screen of the Go Computer is a simplified version of an iGoogle or My Yahoo page, where users can see various information at a glance. To help entice what I call the “old noob” demographic, firstSTREET made a “fact sheet” (pdf) that has more marketing speak than facts, as well as a bunch of images that shows what old noobs can do with a computer:

It’s all good right? Then shit gets weird:

Oooookay. Let’s get to the pricing so you old noobs can order your own Go Computer and grow something. The Go Computer is available at firstSTREET for $800 (USD), but a substantial part of the user-friendliness of the computer is that the company will also maintain it for users, e.g. they’ll block spam, update software, etc., so there’s also a monthly subscription fee of $20. A broadband connection is required of course. Unfortunately the “fact sheet” fails to mention the OS that the computer uses or even hardware specs, only that it has a 19″ screen. Considering that one can get a Core i7 package for $800, lets hope that the Go Computer isn’t made of old parts. Heheh. Old parts. See what I — yeah you’re not reading anymore.

[via gadget venue]

The study, published in Psychology & Aging, reports that the test group who played the real-time-strategy title Rise of Nations, showed some cognitive improvement after time with the title. While the subjects — all of whom were 60 or older — did not improve in all categories, the gaming group showed increased reasoning ability and were better able to swap between tasks. Clearly, they are spreading the ADD to our parents and grandparents now, but if it gets them into multiplayer Civilization on Wednesday nights, is it worth a complaint?

Arthur Kramer, the man behind the study, cautioned that spending hours building a nation is certainly not the only thing older adults should do to help stave off loss of cognitive function, but he pointed out the connection between managing resources in a strategy game and managing one’s real-life finances. Anything that can help with that, and which also happens to be fun, can’t be a bad idea.

[PhysOrg via Wonderland]