Just under 5 feet tall, weighing 245 pounds, and speaking with a feminine coo, Twendy-One the human symbiotic robot can manipulate chop sticks, bring you ketchup from the 'fridge and use her gorilla arms to support the weight a person. In the world of robot technology, she's an accomplishment in balancing dexterity with strength that has been seven years in the making with a several million dollar budget.
Her Japanese maker, Shigeki Sugano, a professor of mechanical engineering at Waseda University, designed her to assist the elderly and hopes to make a commercial version available by 2015 to the tune of $200,000.
There are still significant hurdles to overcome before then. Twendy's battery life is just 15 minutes, and her central computer, which gives her a bit of a humpback, overheats easily.
Her predecessor, Wendy, came out in 1999 and was also gifted with dexterous fingers and opposable thumbs.
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