Sony on Monday unveiled a new robotic music player shaped like an egg with flapping wings that can twist to its tunes.
The "Rolly" is a digital music player that plays music through built-in speakers and has colour lights that flash as it "dances".
Users can set the movements along with the music they download from their personal computers and Bluetooth devices, the company said.
The music player, which will go on sale in Japan on September 29, has one gigabyte of memory to store tunes.
Sony, which withdrew from robot technology development due to its financial difficulties, said the new product was an audio product first and foremost.
"The motion control and sensor technologies (developed in earlier robot projects) are applied to Rolly, but this is an audio product," said Sony spokeswoman Saori Takahashi.
Sony developed dog-shaped robots called Aibo and humanoids, Qrio, but withdrew from robot development last year to focus on more lucrative flat-screen televisions.
The company was once a leader in portable music players, bringing the world the Walkman, but it has since fallen well behind rival Apple and its phenomenally popular iPod.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/articles/sony-launches-dancing-music-player/2007/09/11/1189276676793.html
