April 3, 2002 Trade Electronics announced a plan to finalize an agreement with Fujitsu to
sell a newly developed, mobile phone remote controlled robot to operate
appliances and monitor home security.
The robot, dubbed MARON-1, can be used as a voice-activated telephone and as a camera that can relay photographs to a mobile phone.
According to Fujitsu Laboratories, a subsidiary of Tokyo based Fujitsu,
MARON-I can also operate appliances such as televisions and air conditioners
through infrared remote controls. The robot measures one cubic foot, travels on wheels, and sports a rotating arm, two cameras, a touchpad, and an LCD monitor with Microsoft Windows CE 3.0.
Fujitsu Laboratories will release more details at the Japan Robot Conference,
which begins October 12 at Osaka University. "It is expected that robots will
increasingly be used in personal applications, and in the future will come to
help out around the house as a part of people's everyday lives," a Trade
Electronics representative said in a statement on Wednesday in San Francisco.
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