#personal robot

BN-7 Home Entertainment Robot by Bandai, Tokyo, Japan (2002). Bandai exhibited the BN-7 at ROBODEX 2002 in Yokohama, where it performed live on stage. "The "BN-7 [is] an autonomous home entertainment robot that recognizes human faces and voices. BN-7 is a prototype robot that aims to be able to live … "like a family member". The biggest feature is the image recognition ability, and up to 7 faces can be registered and identified by a camera with 300,000 CMOS color pixels, at 30 frames per second. This makes it possible to communicate according to the personality and life patterns of the whole family. It is also possible to identify specific characters, symbols, and colors. Speech recognition and conversation skills are provided through application software using the artificial intelligence "SSE (Subsumption Engine)" developed by the company. … In addition, you can also perform "emotional expression by body language" using hands and face reflecting the content of the words. This expresses emotions with a change in the color of the cheeks, flushing when happy, turning bright red when angry, and blue when in trouble. … In future, it will be equipped with useful functions for the family, such as teaching children to study, telling their mothers cooking recipes, and playing shogi with their father." – Bandai prototypes "BN-7 (tentative name)", an autonomous robot that recognizes faces and voices, by Takakazu Kitamura, Game Watch.

http://amzn.to/2CC1XKF

I want to install the same Evolution Kit to the next hot guy who walks into my house. It would be just (R)evolutionary!  

NET-BORG was exhibited at the 2001 International Robot Exhibition, and at ROBODEX 2002. It also appears on the cover of Bandai's "Robot Research Book", summarising the history of robot research and development at Bandai, that comes with the Doraemon "My Communication Robot" MD 01A.

Furby (1998) by David Hampton, Caleb Chung, and Richard C. Levy. “The Furby was in part inspired by an earlier ‘90s-era electronic pet: The Tamagotchi. In early 1997, Hampton and Chung saw the Tamagotchi in action for the first time at the annual Toy Fair trade show in New York — and while there was no denying how cool the idea was, one big issue Hampton spotted with the Tamagotchi according to the New York Times profile was the fact that you couldn’t pet it. So he and Chung set out to design an electronic companion you could pet. The working name for the toy was “Furball.” It spoke in a mishmash of the languages Hampton had picked up while he was in the Navy. … When it came time to license the concept, Hampton and Chung brought aboard Richard C. Levy. … Levy was a natural fit for the Furby project; it was thanks to his efforts that the trio struck a licensing deal with Tiger Electronics in 1997. … Not too long after that, Tiger was acquired by Hasbro, who gave the team resources they had only been able to dream about before in order to develop the product; and then, in October 1998, Furby made its public debut at New York’s fabled FAO Schwarz toy store. The store had 35,000 Furbies backordered by the end of the week. To say Furby was a hit is putting it incredibly mildly.” – Here's How That Furby Craze In The '90s REALLY Began — And Why They Still Give You Nightmares, by Lucia Peters.

"The main goal of Ifbot was to put him into nursing home and keep the residents amused and alert by asking and responding [to] questions and reading stories etc. As well as showing emotion Ifbot was design to recognize the emotions of the people he interacted with via the tone of their voice. Think of him as an advanced Alexa or Google Home on wheels with a face and ultrasonic distance sensors on his tummy. ... The goal of targeting senior citizens may not have been a great economic choice, with a Reuters news story from around 2007 reporting the residents of one home where he was located never warmed to him and he sat unused soon after arrival, most likely with a sad emotion on his face." – Ifbot: Putting the emotion into an emotionless robot, Gizmo Highway.

BN-17 "Swiffer" Robot by Bandai, Tokyo, Japan (2005). Presented at IREX2005, Bandai's BN-17 is a companion robot that can recognise its owner, manage your email, and serve as a security robot. While not its primary function, it can even clean your home with its nifty 'swiffer' attachment.