“Robot, Fetch Me that Pail of Water”

What if Princess Buttercup had lived in the year 2012, and fallen in love with the robot boy Wesley? And what if that robot boy was only a meter tall and made of high-density red plastic? Well, we’d probably have quotes like: “Robot boy, fetch me that pail of water” or “I also know something you don’t, I’m not left-servoed either.” Well, at least that could be the case if the Japanese company Hitachi was writing the script.

To see what I mean, check out their latest technological gadget, the EMIEW, a “total information recall” robot which can use multiple camera and massive data files to navigate and find different objects within its environment in real time, as well as respond to verbal communication and move with amazing agility.

This gives a whole new meaning to the Solid State Society and nursing robots! Yikes. But it is also pretty fascinating, in terms of elder care and integrative technologies. What is no one ever had to live alone again, but could instead have a companion robot?

And just in case that isn’t enough for you, check out these crazy wifi glasses! Who needs a 78″ plasma screen tv when you can just slip on these ever-so-sexy glasses and have one magically appear via a digital projection several feet in front of you. Definitely a bonus for the space-crunched urban apartment folks, but will this trend catch on? Apparently the Air Force already uses some model of this, and if you watch any amount of SciFi or cyberpunk movies, this is an old idea. Still, it’s an intriguing idea, even if still a little rough around the edges.