Smartphones are very predictable these days and it's harder and harder to fine one that will cause the excitement we were experiencing in their early days. But Sharp decided to break the rules and the result is unbelievable cute RoBoHoN, the phone that thinks it's robot. Or robot that thinks it's phone.
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Sharp's RoBoHoN, short for robot and phone, is a small robot that has phone capabilities, a typical product of Japan that contains a lot of innovations and even more of "That's cute!" factor. RoBoHoN has a camera, a projector, a mic and an LCD screen on its back. The small creature features a facial and voice recognition system, something that your currently favorite mobile phone most probably doesn't. And Sharp added some very nice features.
When there's a phone call, RoBoHoN will lift the hands up to allow you to take it easily. And it will notify you when someons calls. In fact, it would let you know when there's a phone call. "Hey, there's a call for you." You can call somebody using voice commands, and it has some additional, very useful features: it can project your photos, video or maps onto a wall or screen. All that is supported under the hood with Android and quad-core processor, and networks supported are 3G and 4G LTE.
And when there's no call, RoBoHoN will act as a cute humanoid robot should do: it can walk, sit down and wait, flash with its eyes and it can even dance. If it's boring, it can even take photos for you and show them on the LCD display. And it can scan the map and hail the taxi for you! While you are doing your job, RoBoHoN can check emails or wait until the alarm goes off to notify you. It is 7.5-inches (19.5 cm) tall weighs less than a pound (390 g), so it's not too big to be carried away. And we bet you'd want to take it with you all day long.
The combination of a robot and a phone is an excellent combinations because the RoBoHoN, with all its characteristics, is more a personal companion than an electronic device. For example, it can use facial recognition to see face and it can scan your face to get and idea of your mood. If you don't have anything else to do, you can play games with it. Sharp says the RoboHon will become available in the first half of 2016 and it's one of the most useful personal robots we've ever seen. And it's unbelievably cute. ■
