While that perv in the back is busy shooting HRP-4C's firm buttocks shaped from
a glossy Stormtrooper alloy, the rest of us can marvel at the fact that Japan has
produced a walking, talking fashion robot. Standing at just over 5-feet tall and
95-pounds, HRP-4C, developed by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial
Science and Technology, will make its catwalk debut next week at the Tokyo fashion show.

The she-bot features 30 motors spread throughout its body with an additional eight motors
in its face for expressing general boredom and disgust with the help. Its main purpose is
entertainment and to attract crowds much like its fleshy counterparts -- so don't expect
home cooked meals and laundry service should you take the $200,000 robot home.
Unfortunately, HRP-4C didn't function as planned today. Reports say that the robot,
"kept looking surprised, opening its mouth and eyes in a stunned expression, when the
demonstrator had asked it to smile or look angry." Hmm, sounds like a fully functional
model-slash-actress to us.

We all know of Honda’s ASIMO humanoid robot and its amazing walking and running capabilities.
Other research labs though are not far behind developing robots just as capable. In fact, Toyota
has an excellent and very advanced robot in the making even though they entered the game much
later than Honda.

Toyota’s most recent humanoid robot prototype (one of many partner robots the automotive giant
is developing) stands 130cm tall and weighs 50Kgr. Its legs have 7 degrees of freedom and it can
run at an average speed of 7 km/h. In contrast, ASIMO’s maximum speed is 6km/h. The Toyota
researchers had to develop new real-time methods for balance control. These methods make it
possible for the robot to remain balanced when an external force such as a push from a human
is applied when in motion.

The below video from Toyota demonstrates the running capabilities of the new humanoid robot.
The robot takes a step every 340ms and has no contact with the ground for 100ms of that.
Notice in the video how the robot remains balanced even after pushed by the human.