making R2-D2 and C-3P0 obsolete

NEDO: EXPO 2005 Aichi Japan Next-generation robot

Some of the various robots to be exhibited:

• reception robot - "ACTROID" is a very human looking robot that can carry on a conversation (with natural gestures such as eye movements and smiling) in four languages. C-3P0 may be fluent in 6 million forms of communication but he can't smile.
• childcare robot - cute little toy-looking robot with face recognition functions, a function to let parents away from home know their children are safe, and it can read a story to children. R2-D2 only spoke in beeps.
• security robot - these human-sized plastic dragons patrol outdoors in groups to check for things like fires. R2 and 3P0 needed handheld communicators to know where each other was.
• cleaning robot - these all-weather robots are equipped with GPS, position recognition and an autonomous moving system using a laser sensor and triangulation. No correlation to the Star Wars droids here, but damn that makes my Roomba jealous.