True about Toyota's robot, I didn't notice that it doesn't include any phone function. About Sharp's intended audience, my guess is that Robohon is an attempt to deliver the idea that a smartphone can be a small robot, too, and that it can be useful and not only cute/entertaining, hence that it would appeal to everyone. This might happen someday in Japan, sooner or later, since japanese people are known to have a soft spot for both robots and cute gadgets. From the other side, a device like Toyota's one is cheaper, and consumers might more easily adopt the idea of having a small robot and a smartphone as two separate products, and only at a later stage find the need of having only one device instead of two.
Anyway, I fear that Sharp, given its past financial problems, has no longer the resources for expensive and not profitable projects like this.
Varti
