Robots that can cook, dance songs of Michael Jackson or guide the blind are among the additions to help people cope with the disease in Spain to display at one of the largest in the world of the annual meetings of enthusiasts of new technologies.
Standing 58 centimeters (23 inches) tall and with a plastic shell of a body, a humanoid robot called Nao drew a crowd at the Campus Party in Valencia, as danced Jackson "Billie Jean" with a black hat on his head.
"I am happy to be at the Campus Party!" said in English in a mechanical voice.
The robot can recognize faces and voices and been instructed to turn in a personal computer, read emails or an online newspaper, as well as being used to stimulate suffering from Alzheimer’s disease with memory exercises.
"It is a companion robot at the same time, a robot that can help with day to day," said Romain Daros of the French company that designed Nao Aldebaran Robotics.
The company plans to begin selling robot in 2011 to between 3,000 and 3,500 euros (4,200 and $ 4900).
Another star in the week-long event, which closes Sunday is a robot covered in artificial skin called Paro white that resembles a seal pup that can perceive people and their environment.
The robot has a gentle pace day to be active during the day but sleep at night and talk or react when stroked.
Japan was designed by the largest public research organization, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, to help people with cognitive problems such as autism or dementia.
People with serious memory loss can be prone to psychiatric disturbances, including hallucinations and personality changes, and the robot can provide a way to calm, or at least change their mood.
It is also helpful to involve children in pediatric wards and can help people with autism who struggle to communicate socially and have trouble understanding facial expressions, learn to interact better with others.
A seal was chosen because it do not arouse any emotional memories, such as a dog or a cat would be, "said Ignacio Villoch, the marketing director of Spanish bank BBVA innovation center that provides the robot in Spain.
Unemployment is now available for sale in Japan and several nations of northern Europe.
Only several meters (yards) away from Switzerland Sylvain Calinon of the Federal Institute of Technology presented his robot, a "chef" who can cook.
Calinon said that unlike other robots, the "new gestures learn by imitation, by observation, without a broker, as a computer programmer.
The robot has already learned how to beat eggs and ham to make a cut tortilla.
"We can imagine, for example, that could feed people who can not feed themselves with their own hands," said Calinon.
The reunion at the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences also space for non-professionals to display their creations, and many were also designed to help sick or disabled, even if they were more rudimentary.
One of them, José Alberto García, proudly showed his three-legged in front of the robot called Invigbot that beeps when approaching an obstacle.
"It was designed to serve as a guide for the blind," the 22-year-old said.
Around 6,000 people are expected to attend the Campus Party, which brings together participants from around the world to share ideas, experiences and all kinds of activities related to computers, communications and new technologies.
The annual event began in Spain in 1997. Editions of the event have been held in Brazil and Colombia.
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