Meet Valerie, she's a domestic android

Willis is also optimistic that Valerie will be able to master the art of bi-pedal movement which comes so naturally to humans yet has always proven to be a problem for robots.

'The key is in the area of balance and we have several systems all working in this area - we have the vision system, a gyro accelerometer board and the sense of touch in the feet all contributing. Asimo, for example, has six force sensors in each foot. We're using 30 force sensors in each of Valerie's feet. We're confident we can do better than has been done previously. We think a lot of people have had a lot of problems because they don't have a lot of movement in the pelvis region.

'To date Willis has sold three prototype Valeries, all destined for a delivery date of late 2004 and has the capacity to deliver another four in the same time frame. How is the schedule coming along?'Well we haven't put it all together yet, so it's a bit hard to say whether we're on or behind or in front of schedule.

'Willis expects the price of personal robotics to drop quickly over the coming years. 'In a year or two, I expect that once production gets underway, the price will come down to maybe half what it is now. It's only a few years away that the price performance equation will become very compelling to the average household and the market will begin to accelerate.

'We've taken a lot of effort to make Valerie easy to use so we have used a natural language interface. We decided to program our robot in English so that you don't need to be a programmer to tell her what to do. There are many advantages to doing it that way, including that the robot is self documenting.

What Valerie will be able to do:

Muscle movements equal to a person.

Understand spoken commands (in several languages) Speak to you in English (or several other languages) Remember previous conversations with you. Remember a daily list of chores to be done. Perform household chores such as: Cleaning Clearing the table Changing light bulbs Doing laundry Dusting Lift and carry things up to 50 pounds Picking up things Putting things away Painting Setting the table Sweeping Washing dishes Vacuuming

Access the internet to do such things as: Check stock prices Check sports scores Find information for you Book plane tickets for you Find addresses or phone numbers Find directions Call police in an emergency. Call the fire department in case of fire. Dress or undress herself. Have a sense of touch all over like people do.

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