Toshiba getting closer to "life support robot"

Here's a pretty comprehensive article on Toshiba's quest for a "life support robot." They will be demoing the robots at the Prototype Robot Exhibition in Japan from June 9 to 19th. The will be demoing two robots - Robot one is able to recognize a specific voice in a crowd from any direction and then locate that voice. Robot two can follow a specific person in a crowd. "As the subject moves, an integrated ultrasonic sensor checks for obstacles in the robot's way, and the robot negotiates these while maintaining visual contact with the person."

The following robot size is as follows: diameter 380mm, heigt 430mm, weight 10kg.
The hearing robot is: diameter 450mm, heigt 900mm, weight 30kg.