The newest Sony robot, the SDR-4X, has a photographic memory, an extensive vocabulary and a jukebox-like knowledge of music. He also dances and comes with a clunky, sci-fi name and a price tag resembling that of a luxury car.

It can carry on simple conversations with its 60,000-word vocabulary, recognize color, dodge obstacles in its path and even sing once programmed with music and lyrics.



The robot also can be programmed to recognize 10 people through their faces, stored as digital images shot with its camera, and their voices, picked up through seven microphones. It also will remember their names.