Servo - March 2016

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The RoBoHoN robotic smartphone from Sharp.

SERVO 03.2016 9

A Phone? A Bot? Yes!

Okay, your smartphone can give you directions, handle text messaging, answer questions, take pictures, and even record sounds. But can it walk, send and receive email, identify you via voice and face recognition, understand what you are saying, take photos and movies on its own, and project videos on the wall? It can if it’s Sharp’s RoBoHoN, scheduled for release later this year.

Yep, it’s both a smartphone and a robot in one package. The website ( robohon.com/special/english) is somewhat sketchy about its capabilities, but it does reveal that RoBoHoN is almost 8 in ( 19. 5 cm) tall and weighs in at about 14 oz (390 g), so it may not be the most comfortable device to have attached to your ear for long periods. The two inch QVGA display isn’t all that impressive, and the Snapdragon MSM8926 processor is pretty much an entry-level device. The price — still unannounced — could be prohibitive. But, hey, ain’t it cute? SV