If you've had trouble finding a dog walker for your pet robotic Sony Aibo, help is on the way. Sony recently presented the prototype for the first humanoid member of their "entertainment robot" line -- the SDR-4X.

Standing just under two feet high (580 mm), and weighing about 14 pounds (6.5 Kg) SDR-4X is not about to stomp downtown Tokyo. But its fluid, humanlike movements, its obstacle avoidance system, and its compact design could make it a great low-maintenance companion.

SDR-4X's big achievement is compressing technology similar to Honda's larger Asimo bipedal robot down to the size of a toddler. With 38 individual joints responding to data from a variety of sensors, and stereo digital cameras allowing depth perception, SDR-4X is all about adaptibility. SDR-4X can stand on one leg, regain its feet by itself if it falls, navigate around obstacles, and climb stairs. In groups, they can perform synchronized dance moves that could put Janet Jackson to shame.

A pair of 64-bit RISC processors, 64MB of RAM and a Sony Memory Stick slot not only coordinates the robot's movement, but also performs speech recognition and speech synthesis. Like the Aibo, SDR-4X learns as it is played with, and will learn to recognize names and frequently-seen faces.

No word yet on its commercial availability, but you can read the specs from Sony's press release, and see more photos at these Japanese-language Web sites.

Sony Press Release (in English)
http://www.sony.co.jp/en/SonyInfo/News/Press/200203/02-0319E/

SDR-4X movies hosted by Impress Watch (in Japanese)
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/pc/docs/2002/0320/sony.htm

More SDR-4X imges hosted by Impress Watch (in Japanese)
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/pc/docs/2002/0319/sony3.htm