Sony Mobile Communications Inc. announced Tuesday it will begin selling a new communications robot targeted at families next month, furthering its foray into the trending robot market. "We've developed this product based on a theme of making it a new member of the family," Hiroshi Ito, deputy head of the smart products division at Sony Mobile, said during a news conference in Tokyo. "We'd like to propose a new way of communication with this that makes communication more fun for families." Dubbed Xperia Hello, the robot will hit store shelves Nov. 18 and is expected to sell for around ¥150,000. The 21-cm conical-shaped robot can perform various functions such as using its camera to recognize people's faces and then chatting with them.