Toymaker Tomy Co. said Wednesday it has developed a robot with artificial intelligence that is capable of recognizing words in a conversational context.
Tomy will put the robot, known as memoni, on sale for 18,000 yen in the summer after displaying it at a toy fair to be held in Tokyo later this month.
When it hears a sentence, the robot can pick up two words and respond accordingly, Tomy said.
If, for example, a woman says, "I'll go out on a date with him tomorrow," the robot is capable of recognizing the words "him" and "date" and confirm the man's name or respond with a question such as, "Where will you go?"
As the robot remembers whatever it says, it is also able to continue the conversation with remarks such as, "You were late for your last date with him, weren't you?" and so forth, Tomy said.
Capable of memorizing some 20,000 words, the robot is theoretically able to form two billion sentences, according to the firm, which makes character toys including the Pocket Monsters.
The robot can also be used as a kind of diary because it can remembers users' schedules.