The new robot from Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. can't do much but chatter in a high-pitched voice. The 39,800-yen ( 390), 10-centimeter (4-inch) -tall, doll-like Kirobo Mini -- whose name comes from "kibo," or "hope," and "robot" -- supposedly has the smarts of a 5-year-old. Fuminori Kataoka, general manager in charge of the project, says its value is emotional, going from home to car to the outdoors as a faithful companion, although the owner must do all the walking and driving. Preorders start later this year. Shipments are set for next year.

The world's first laundry sorting and folding robot will go on sale in 2017, its manufacturer said on Tuesday at the Ceatec electronics show just outside of Tokyo. Laundroid is the size of a large refrigerator and has a pull-out drawer near its base where unsorted clothes can be thrown in. A robot inside the device picks up each item of clothing and uses image analysis with artificial intelligence to figure out what kind of clothing it is so it knows the correct way to fold it. For humans, identifying and folding laundry is an easy albeit mundane task, but for a machine it's very difficult. That's reflected in the size of the device and its speed. During a demonstration on Tuesday it took about 10 minutes to pick out one garment, identify it and fold it.

Although technology seems to be everywhere, we continue to fill in the voids. Existing technologies evolve and change at a higher pace every year, making it challenging for some professionals to adjust.We have reached a point where some are having difficulty coping with game-changing technologies that are presumably contributing to progress. Such progress can be difficult to perceive if you are not directly benefiting from it. In my previous article, I discussed the ability of social robotics to make a positive impact on our society. This article provides an optimistic vision of the opportunity for this technology to include the general public in its development.

FILE - In this May 18, 2016 file photo, Google vice president Mario Queiroz gestures while introducing the new Google Home device during the keynote address of the Google I/O conference in Mountain View, Calif. On Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016, the search giant will ramp up its consumer electronics strategy with expected announcements of new gadgets including new smartphones and an internet-connected personal-assistant for the home similar to Amazon's Echo speaker. All are intended to showcase Google's software and online services. FILE - In this May 18, 2016 file photo, Google vice president Mario Queiroz gestures while introducing the new Google Home device during the keynote address of the Google I/O conference in Mountain View, Calif. On Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016, the search giant will ramp up its consumer electronics strategy with expected announcements of new gadgets including new smartphones and an internet-connected personal-assistant for the home similar to Amazon's Echo speaker.

A baby robot designed to "invoke an emotional connection" has been unveiled in Japan, where plummeting birth rates have left many couples without children. The Kirobo Mini was created by Toyota's non-automotive department and is equiped with artificial intelligence and a camera so it can recognise the face of the person speaking to it and respond. "He wobbles a bit, and this is meant to emulate a seated baby which hasn't fully developed the skills to balance itself," said Fuminori Kataoka, Kirobo Mini's chief design engineer. "This vulnerability is meant to invoke an emotional connection." Toyota plans to sell Kirobo Mini, which blinks its eyes and speaks with a baby-like high-pitched voice, for 39,800 yen ( 300/US 390) in Japan next year.

Robots can do many things humans can do, often better. They mix cocktails, stand in for security guards and dispose of bombs. One thing we're sure they can never do better: care for our kids. They can't snuggle, kiss boo-boos or exhibit unconditional love, not like a mom or dad or child care worker can. But that didn't stop the makers of iPal from creating a creepy nanny robot that they're billing as a babysitter. It's a 3-foot-tall talking bot, complete with a surveillance cam, a touch screen tablet and tons of apps, you know, to keep your kid occupied and happy when you can't.

Among the robots, big screens and fast computers of Japan's Ceatec electronics show, a small prototype being shown off by Fujitsu is probably one of the lowest tech gadgets on the show floor, but it could be one of the most important. The Ontenna is a small gadget intended to be worn in the hair that translates sound into vibrations. The technology is similar to the kinds of things children make with electronics kits: a microphone connected to an amplifier connected to a motor. But in the hair-clip-style form factor, it can help deaf people understand more about the world around them, said Shinji Kanda, who works in Fujitsu's Robotics Advancement Office. He started the project during his freshman year at Japan's Future University of Hakodate after a chance encounter with someone who was deaf.

Bats rule the roost when it comes to caves, ducking and diving through their dank dwellings. And now new drone footage attempts to mimic a bat's point of view, taking viewers inside the eerie Devetashka cave in Bulgaria that was inhabited as far back as 70,000 years ago, but is now home to around 30,000 bats. Footage captured by the YouTube channel SkyTrip reveals a giant cavern with large holes punctuating the length of it. Ducking and diving: New drone footage attempts to mimic a bat's point of view, taking viewers inside the eerie Devetashka cave in Bulgaria Kanye ends NY show mid-set because of'family emergency' Man claims to be Bill Clinton's son'Pascal's a G!' Kim Kardashian speaks well of her bodyguard The lens then circles around to give a near-360-degree view of the 100ft-high craggy ceilings. Later the camera swoops down to foot level, narrowly missing some inky puddles as it grazes the floor.

James Lovelock's parting words last time we met were: "Enjoy life while you can. Because if you're lucky, it's going to be 20 years before it hits the fan." It was early 2008, and the distinguished scientist was predicting imminent and irreversible global warming, which would soon make large parts of the planet uninhabitably hot or put them underwater. The fashionable hope that windfarms or recycling could prevent global famine and mass migration was, he assured me, a fantasy; it was too late for ethical consumption to save us. Before the end of this century, 80% of the world's population would be wiped out.

The new robot from Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. can't do much but chatter in a high-pitched voice. But the 390, 4-inch-tall, doll-like Kirobo Mini -- whose name comes from "kibo," or "hope," and "robot" -- supposedly has the smarts of a 5-year-old. Fuminori Kataoka, general manager in charge of the project, says its value is emotional, going from home to car to the outdoors as a faithful companion, although the owner must do all the walking and driving. Preorders start later this year. Shipments are set for next year.