Robovie's Plastic Butler Bot Gets An Upgrade, Goes on Sale

Just the other day we were giggling with glee at Robovie's diminutive MR2 companion robot. Now the company's trumped itself: Robovie's R-Ver.3 is out. He's taller, can cope with rugged terrain, and you can pre-order him. For real.

This chap is rolling out of the Advanced Telecommunications Research institute in Japan, with the assistance of robot makers Vstone, and he's in two versions, with slightly different designs. The main purpose of the child-sized bot is to be an assistive technology...