iPod gets speaker robot called Miuro

Speaker dock that follows you around the house

3 September 2006 15:59 GMT / By Stuart Miles

The creators of the Pino toy robot have created a robot iPod docking station that follows you around the house.

Called Miuro, the 14-inch-long machine, which looks like a ball, has been created by Japanese company ZMP and features two Kenwood speakers in its wheels.

Short for "music innovation based on utility robot technology" users lock their iPod into the top of the robot, which comes in white, black, yellow or red.

The unit responds to a handheld remote control and users can also opt to have music streamed to it wirelessly from a PC.

At a demonstration in Tokyo, the 11-pound Miuro did a preprogrammed vacuum-cleaner-like dance, rolling about and pivoting to music.

"This is a robot version of music-on-the-move that's so popular", Miuro designer Shinichi Hara told AP.

The $930 robot went on sale Thursday in Japan by internet order, and overseas availability is expected in the second half of 2007.

The company also offers optional extras such as a camera and sensors so the robot can map out its own position and remember routes.

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