Mitsubishi on Monday installed its robot for the home, Wakamaru, in the showroom at its head office in Tokyo.

Wakamaru can recognize faces and hold simple conversations and will greet visitors to the office. It also can be hooked up to the Internet and read the news and weather forecasts.

From Yomiuri , via Robotics.

QRIO, a robot developed by Sony, has served as the company’s ambassador to communicate technology and curiosity about science on various occasions. QRIO will be part of a Science Program, organized by the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan and Sony, as a science messenger to help children experience the potential and the enjoyment of science and technology, and act as an intermediary between children and technology.

Via Engadget.

And last Friday, T63 Artemis gave its first large-scale patrol of a shopping arcade in Fukuoka in Japan (read Artemis conducts security patrol in Fukuoka.)

The museum of Kitakyusyu allows visitors, who are not physically able to make it to the museum, to remote control that same T63 Artemis via their NTT DoCoMo cell phone and take pictures – through the robot.

From Picturephoning, via Akihabara News.

The Christian Science Monitor is concerned about the human cost that automation involves. In manufacturing, of course but computers can do relatively routine tasks as well, from check-out clerks at Home Depot to airline ticket agents and hotel desk clerks, insurance underwriters and software customer support staff.

So far, though, automation doesn’t appear to have had a deep impact on job loss. Despite its airline kiosks and a tough travel economy, Continental has seen only a 4 percent decrease in ticket agents since 9/11. Kinetics is also running a pilot program at 55 McDonald’s restaurants, where customers can order food at kiosks. Some restaurants have actually had to increase employment in the kitchen because of the faster customer turnover out front.

Home Depot, which has 850 stores with self-checkout lanes, has put people who had run registers in the aisles, helping people find the stuff in the store and Publix supermarkets is using freed workers to upgrade their bakery and deli departments and take groceries to customers’ cars.

Job losses at service counters have been minimal so far. But eventually, automation will have an extensive effect. Even more significant for retail jobs will be the movement of commerce online, from banking to retailing to moviegoing, reducing the need for people to visit bricks-and-mortar stores.