NYT Reviews Nuvo - Yet Another Walking Robot

It appears that New York Times journalists have all the luck, because this one got to review the latest from ZMP Inc., a cute yellow walking robot pal. Of course, the one central glowing eye does seem a bit spooky, but that's beside the point.

Nuvo, who sells for about $6,000 (ouch) is, "marketed as household helpmate and as a mobile baby monitor and security device."

Judging from the article, Nuvo seems pretty good at recognizing voice commands. "When I called it, its sensors detected me and it automatically stopped about six inches from my feet," and, "During one poignant scene on "America's Most Wanted," in which a victim was weeping, Nuvo's eye light turned blue and it shook its head."

The author tells how she came to really like having Nuvo around and started to view it as a pet.

As for Nuvo's future, "The next version of Nuvo, expected out next year, will be capable of reading appointments from a programmable calendar and reciting e-mail messages, traffic reports and news headlines retrieved from the Internet."

There's a video of Nuvo moving on the site (free registration required.)