Dancing Robot Girl

The age of robots being used in everyday homes has come a step nearer with the development of a new humanoid. And once they've done the dishes, they can join you in bop round the living room. For the catchily named HRP-4C,And yesterday she showed off her neatest dance steps at an exhibition in Tokyo. The grand unveiling was staged by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, the country's biggest public research organisation with around 3,200 employees. They claim to have developed software that allows anyone without robotic expertise to program movements. And they dressed HRP-4C in a yellow dress and gave her a backing group to prove their point. Using a mouse, users can easily create complicated movements, such as dancing and jumping, according to the institute.