Metrobot squad infiltrates Seoul subway

South Koreans have drawn attention for plans to have a robot in every home by 2010. That faraway goal came a step closer today when the Seoul subway began deploying a small army of service robots called Metrobots to assist travelers.

The humanoid machines can provide information about subway fees, restaurants, tourist attractions and maps in Korean and English. Ten Metrobots are to work at City Hall and nine other transfer stations on the busy Metropolitan Subway system.

What with Japan's Asimo and Korea's Hubo in near-parallel development, I wonder whether this bit of one-upmanship in the robot arms race will see a flood of Wakamaru bots hitting the Tokyo underground.

Humanoid for hire

Get your artificial receptionist/valet while supplies last. Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has announced that its humanoid communication robot Wakamaru is now available for rent.

Wakamaru is a sophisticated robot with vision, auditory and touch sensors. The rental project is aimed at businesses, hospitals and events, where the droid will do receptionist and guidance duties. Wakamaru can understand about 10,000 words, retrieve information or emails from the Net with its wireless LAN link, and do a mean upper-body aerobics routine.

The daily rental fee varies according to the lease length. For a lease of 1-5 days, it's 120,000 yen ($970), while 21-30 days is only 20,000 yen ($160). Shipping and management charges extra. The rentals will come with touch panels that can display venue maps and other info.