Japanese Robot Show 2008

The Kennedy Center in Washington hosted in February a Japanese robot show including Honda's ASIMO and the Toyota Partner Robot playing the trumpet. Other robots on display included the humanlike Actroid DER2, Paro, a stuffed seal used for therapeutic purposes, Wakamaru, the Mitsubishi robot, and the robo-dog Aibo.

The show demonstrates Japanese robotics visions and engineering excellence but also lack of market successes. Sony´s Aibo and Mitsubishi´s Wakamaru are no longer aivailable on the market because of marekting and technical problems. Today the household robot market is dominated by US company irobot that has delivered more than 2,5 million vaccum cleaning robts and continues to develop new application such as mobile videobots for domestic and military use.