Mitsubishi robot aide runs Linux, nags if you're in toilet too long

Did we mention that the bubble-headed home aide robot unveiled by Mitsubishi earlier this week runs on Linux? Wakamaru also can also send digital camera images to mobile phones, wireless devices, and PCS via wireless Internet connection and can be trained to send e-mail or make a phone call if it hears noises or sees something in or around the home that might spell danger. Consumer sales are scheduled to start in April, 2004 — anyone have details on the "wireless internet service" that Wakamaru will reportedly use? According to a Sydney Morning Herald article, it can also remember the side effects of its owners' medication, and ask questions like, "You're home late. What have you been up to?" And Japan Today reports:

The major shipbuilder and heavy machinery maker said the name Wakamaru represents a combination of "waka," meaning "young" in Japanese and "Maru," a term often used to name Japanese-registered ships, known outside Japan as "Maru ships."…The robot is connected to a communications network around the clock…It can also report to family members or a designated party in other areas when the robot's owner stays in such areas as a bathroom for too long.

SMH link, Japan Today link, Discuss