Japanese robot developer tmsuk have unveiled their future vision of high-street shopping, the telerobotic shopper. Presented in the female form the humanoid robot uses a variety of mobile communication technologies so we can shop from the safety of the stampedes with our feet up.
Demonstrated over the weekend at the Izutsuya department store in Japan the shopping assistant demoed its potential use as a substitute as an infirm gran sent the machine in her place to go on a spree with her granddaughter.
With the use of video mobile the gran could control the robot with her handset and have pictures of the trip sent back from the robots camera eyes, she sent the robot into the hat section and had her granddaughter try a few on before deciding on her purchase.
According to tmsuk this innovative type of “3D communications” technology brings us a step closer to a future in which telerobotic shoppers roam the fashionable areas of cities like New York or London.
After the recent queues for the iPhone we can see a real future for these droids to sit patiently and wait in line for us, forget turning up a couple of days beforehand to get in pole position we’ll be sending our robots weeks in advance to secure our slots.
