In Japan, government agencies and industrial giants are keen on incorporating robots into households and offices as practical helpmates to people, carrying out everyday chores and providing assistance to elderly citizens and others. Mobina, for instance, could carry you, or if you prefer to walk, it could tag along and function as a porter. Toyota expects to get going with a trial program for the 330-pound mobility robot in the second half of 2008.
This isn't Toyota's first foray into robots as conveyances. In fact, the automaker-and-then-some has come up with a string of such devices in recent years, from the three-wheeled i-Real to the two-legged i-Foot. Rival carmaker Honda, of course, hasn't been at all shy about touting its own humanoid robot, Asimo.
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