Sharp's new robot named RoboHon can talk, walk, dance, and transform into a working phone. The company's headquarters in Tokyo reports that the 8-inch android will launch in Japan on May 26 and have a price tag of $1,800. However, it will be a limited edition as only 5,000 units will be manufactured each month.
The new robot runs Android. It can make phone calls; and send emails, photos, and videos.
RoboHon functions as a regular smartphone but has the shape of a small robot. The bot includes a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of on-board storage, 8MP camera, and 1700mAh battery, according to Android Authority. It also includes a projector in its head that can display images and video with 720-pixel resolution.
Sharp confirms that the robot-phone will have LTE radios inside, which was unclear when the robot was first announced. RoboHon will also work on Japan's largest phone carrier NTT Docomo although it has plans to add smaller carriers in the future, according to Engadget.
The robotic phone also includes a 2-inch QVGA screen. Sharp explains that the machine is designed for people to communicate by talking with it so there is no need for touchscreen interactions
RoboHon includes three voice-recognition techs including Cloud and offline voice recognition. However, customers will have to pay a monthly fee for those functions, which start at $6.
Sharp shares that it has plans to launch RoboHon in other countries around the world. However, the high price and monthly fees could limit the sales to robot fans.
The Japanese conglomerate is also working on other products that feature the robot-phone mascot. They include a fishing app, taxi app for calling a cab, and mobile apps for finding restaurants and bars.
In related news, Hitachi recently unveiled a customer service robot named EMIEW3. The android can find customers who need help, share sales data with other robots, and get back up after getting knocked down. In addition, the robot can also speak four languages including Chinese and English.
Hitachi explains that the android's cameras and sensors help it to detect customers who need support. It then links to the company's cloud platform to process questions and think of a response.