We first met ‘Xperia Agent’ as a concept back at MWC 2016. Just under two years later this miniature assistant has become a reality in the form of Xperia Hello!

Launching in Japan only from November 16^th, Xperia Hello! is a communication robot that can recognise each member of the family and assist with daily life simply by talking to it.

As well as being the cutest thing we’ve released since Aibo, Xperia Hello! combines Sony’s robotics know-how with Sony Agent Technology to help you and your family with a whole heap of tasks around the home. A few of our favourite things:

It feels like a real member of the family

Xperia Hello! is packed with personality. Designed from the ground up to feel like a member of the family, it will assess its surroundings and speak or move according to the situation with no human input required. It can rotate up to 340 degrees and will turn its body to greet anyone who speaks to it. Additionally, the lights at the top of its body function as eyes, and are used to express feelings from loneliness to happiness, sadness to excitement.

Xperia Hello! Recognises the whole family

Thanks to four motion sensors and seven microphones in its lower body, it will detect someone approaching within a three-metre radius. It can then use its upper body camera to identify whether it is a registered family member, and actively convey any information, messages, or news, as appropriate. The torso comes with a 4.6-inch liquid crystal touch screen display that displays conversations, news, and more.

Family life is busy, Xperia Hello! will make sure nothing is forgotten

Chat with the family through Skype calls or video messages, or send and receive messages via LINE (Japan’s equivalent of WhatsApp or WeChat).  Any received messages will be conveyed to the appropriate family member when detected. Xperia Hello! can even remember important days and family events and notify the entire household. No more forgotten anniversaries…

Peace of mind for parents away from home

By selecting the “show me what my family is up to” command from your LINE account, Xperia Hello! will notify you of the last time the children’s faces were detected. The “show me what you see” command will cause Xperia Hello! to rotate and provide a view of its surroundings.

It can help each family member plan their day

Because Xperia Hello! can recognise individual family members, it can provide them with personalised info about news, traffic, weather forecasts, messages, and more. Each family member can set preferred news categories and by recording traffic routes to school and work, Xperia Hello! will automatically notify you of any accidents or traffic delays along your route.

It can dance

Ask Xperia Hello! to ‘do a dance’. You can thank us later.

See Xperia Hello! in action here. It’s all in Japanese but you get the idea.

Source: Sony Mobile Blog
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