Robots join in the fun at Expo

SHANGHAI - As the tune of the famed Chinese folk song "Jasmine Flower" came to the end, the crowd clapped enthusiastically to salute the player - a humanoid robot.

"It can even play the violin!" exclaimed one visitor to the Japan Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo.

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Toyota Motor Corp.'s "Partner Robot" became a superstar at the Aichi Expo in 2005. In Shanghai, it will not only entertain, but also help out with household chores.

Robots of all shapes and sizes are on display or on the job at the Shanghai Expo which opened May 1.

Over the six months it runs, one of the aims of the Expo is to showcase advanced technology, and robots that sing, cook, and collect trash, and that do expo security work.

Several 58-cm-tall humanoid robots known as "Nao" are at the France Pavilion. Others are at the exhibition "Paris - Ile de France: A River, A Territory, A Lifestyle" in the Expo's Urban Best Practice Area.

Nao, developed and manufactured by Aldebaran Robotics, a Paris-based company, can introduce its version of France to the visitors in three languages - French, English and Chinese.

Nicknamed by some visitors as "little genius," they can sing, dance and play Jazz and football, and even demonstrate the popular martial art Tai chi.

Spain built a huge animated baby robot, Miguelin, for its pavilion. The 6.5- meter-tall tot breathes, blinks, giggles, and turns its head gently from side to side, inviting curiosity.

In the Japanese Industry Pavilion, three robots climb up and down to a height of 20 meters.

Japanese engineer Tamai Hirohumi said the robots are more flexible with the special chips embedded in their joints.

"They could replace people doing dangerous work high above the ground," he said, and robots are increasingly a part of ordinary people's life. It's no longer a dream to apply these technologies in daily life," he said.

At the entrance to the crown-shaped China Pavilion, 9-year-old Tang Yaoyu from neighboring Jiangsu Province was among the lucky few to get the opportunity to talk to a robot shaped like the Expo mascot, Haibao.

"Smile, Haibao!" The boy said.

"Ha-ha-ha," the robot replied.