Teddy Bear Navigates Your Car, Detects You Drunk
Engineers at iXs Research Corporation introduced an amazing robotic teddy bear that was designed to be a talking car navigation system. The model of a robot is pretty tall - 30 centimeters (1 ft), and possesses six joints in its arms and neck for making gestures while producing spoken directions.
The robot bear has the functions to improve auto safety, like an alcohol detection sensor implanted in its neck. If it smells that you are drunk , the robot warns the driver and this way may prevent the unwanted accidents. Other sensors catch wreckless driving. The robot says “Watch out!” if the driver accelerates or slams on the brakes.
When you stroke its head, the robot bear also gives information about the nearest landmarks.
The company believes that the robot will be commercially available next year. The intentions are to make it more compact and to offer a wide range of shapes, including a plain mechanical version and other characters.
Although Fujitsu has the unique patent on the idea of getting car navigation systems with dolls, it has permitted iXs Research Corporation to use this patent through a Kawasaki-area project and this way show to major corporations the good example how to share intellectual property rights with minor companies.
