Has anyone seen this robot at any of the auto shows? I saw it here in Cincinnati a few weeks ago and was very impressed. Ford says that Ernie is a completly "autonomous robot" that recognizes some 50,000 words. It was quite amusing but I'm a little dissapointed in Ford because its not true. Theres a guy in a telemetry suit watching through a camera that sits on top of Ernies head and he controls every word and movement. Ernie is pretty impressive anyway but this may be the one area where a japanese company is out doing Ford. Honda's robot Asimo is much more impressive than Ernie. Sorry Ford. Anyone else seen this thing around?

 

First thing I thought of when I saw the title of this thread was Tennessee Ernie Ford. As I recall, he was a little robot-like.... -TD