RoBoHoN – a smartphone that thinks it’s a robot – or is it the other way round? (preview) 
It is a creation only the Japanese could come up with: RoBoHoN, Sharp’s latest gadget, has a sort of identity crisis – it cannot decide what it is – is it a smartphone, or is it a robot? Actually, it is a bit of both: Sharp’s boffins took the latest mobile phone technology and stuck it into the body of a small, irresistibly-cute robot. What is more, they still managed to squeeze in a reasonably good, eight megapixel, camera and a mini-projector, mounted onto the RoBoHoN’s forehead, that can be used, for example, for projecting your photos and videos onto any flat surface.
Empowered by its voice & face recognition software, RoBoHoN will bend over backwards (sometimes almost literally) to please and assist you in your daily life. Standing just under 20 cm tall, RoBoHoN is controlled primarily by voice commands, although he features a small touch screen on his back for those more complicated tasks that require manual input.
While 3G, 4G LTE, GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth standards offer a wide range of connectivity, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and 2-inch, 320 x 240 pixel, touch screen, packed inside RoBoHoN aren’t exactly at the bleeding edge of technology – but it’s not what the little robot contains, but how he can use it, what ultimately counts.
But what can RoBoHoN actually do? Everything your phone does – and much more. After a message arrives, RoBoHoN can read it for you aloud, then record your reply and send it back to the sender. He will also save you from the indignity of having to pose with the embarrassing selfie stick, as he will happily snap all your portraits or group photos for you. Then, thanks to his head-mounted projector, he will display the taken images, or other media, onto a wall or any other suitable flat surface. It can also notify you of an incoming call, remind you about an important appointment, wedding anniversary, friend’s birthday or any other important date. And you can finally get rid of your terrorising alarm clock, being woken up in the morning by a considerate: “Wake up Jane. It’s time to go to work.” instead. This surely beats any presently available virtual personal assistant, such as Apple’s Siri or Microsoft’s Cortana, hands down.
All this, however, comes at a hefty price, as the little robot goes on sale in Japan at a starting price of 198,000 Yen ($1,900, £1,300, €1,700) plus an additional monthly fee if you want to use RoBoHon’s voice recognition features. For now though, the gadget will only be available in Japan, so, alas, it is unlikely that you will see RoBoHoN sitting in a window of your local mobile phone shop alongside the latest Samsung Galaxy or Apple iPhone smartphones any time soon. One can only hope that some of the mobile network operators will bring RoBoHoN to the western market at some point in the future, so that also you can enjoy the company of your very own pint-sized electronic butler.
Of course, you would have to put up with a few stares whenever you will find yourself holding a giant, 8-inch-tall robot up to your ear when you need to take a call, but being ostracised by your friends is a small price to pay for feeling like you are living in the future, right? Right?!?
If this RoBoHoN promotional video released earlier by Sharp doesn’t move you, you have a heart of stone.
10/05/2016
