Photos: Personal robots jump-start an industry

In his book, Loving the Machine, Timothy Hornyak told a tale of the cultural history of Japanese robots. There, robots are frequently given friendly faces, and are more likely to be cuddly than in the U.S.

The book opens with images of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries designer Toshiyuki Kita's household robot, Wakamaru, shown here. The machine calls to mind a growing child and is designed to be "an object that can approach its user." It has lasers and cameras and can track and recognize individuals. It also has a wide vocabulary that it uses to greet people or offer useful information such as weather forecasts.