twendyone01 Go ahead, stick the metal tongs in the toaster.

Twendy-One is a robot designed by researchers at Waseda University to assist the elderly.  Because if there’s one thing the elderly are quick to adopt, it’s cutting-edge technology with the capability to kill you.  My grandma thinks the internet will steal your identity then molest you if you right-click the mouse, but, yeah, she can’t wait to get one of these.

Twendy-One is 4.8 feet high and 2 feet wide and able to lift up to 77 pounds.  It has four fingers that even have a fingernail to pick up small objects like coins, so my grandma can accuse it of stealing the change off her dresser.  It has force sensors along the entire surface of the arm so it knows what object it’s holding under its arm, poised to throw down a staircase.

The illumination of the LEDs shows the condition of the robot’s vision system, while the force sensor can detect a human touch of the head – possibly to allow people to give Twendy-One a tap on the head when it does a good job or supply a slap around the ears when it doesn’t.  [GizMag]

That’s right, box its ears.  Slapping robots around is awesome and never ends in tragedy.  Anyway, a retail version of the robot is expected to release in 2015, costing between ten and twenty million yen (~$110,000 – $220,000).  That seems like a lot, considering robots already eat old people’s medicine for fuel.