Japan To Market Robot 'Watchdog'

Checking on your pet puppy — or foiling a possible burglar — while across town from your home can be as easy as calling up Fujitsu's new robot, a machine on wheels that looks like a short R2-D2.

Maron-1, displayed at a recent robot conference in Japan, is not just experimental whimsy. Fujitsu plans to market the robot in the next year for under $1,600, targeting computer-savvy bachelors and young couples who tend to be away from home a lot. Overseas sales plans aren't decided.

"I think Japanese like robots," researcher Shinji Kanda said while showing off his scurrying robot at Fujitsu's research center in Kawasaki, a Tokyo suburb. "Our robot is different from pet robots. It's useful."

The robot, which is slightly shorter than knee-high and weighs 11 pounds, has a transparent, curvaceous covering to protect two digital cameras that protrude from the top like frog eyes.

Put it on watchdog mode, and when it detects someone or something moving in front of it, the machine blurts out in an electronic voice, "An intruder found," and immediately calls your mobile phone to warn you.

Maron, which stands for "mobile agent robot of next generation," also can be operated over Internet-capable mobile phones. It can switch off or on home appliances such as TVs, VCRs, and air conditioners with its infrared remote control, and can serve as a speaker phone.

The robot knows how to avoid obstacles and won't fall off a table but has yet to master climbing stairs.

Japanese already have shown a fascination with entertainment robots such as the poodle-like Aibo from Sony Corp. Fujitsu believes interest in security robots will increase because of growing concerns about crime in Japan — although there's still far less than in Western nations.