After years of development, the 'ifbot' is the latest robotic companion in Japan. It is already a big hit with kids and their parents. Shown at Robodex, the 'ifbot' has 40 facial expressions and a vocabulary of more than 1000 words. With sophisticated technology like the VORERO voice recognition engine, the small robot can tell when you are happy or sad, loves to get hugs, and can teach you to speak Japanese. It is said to be the first commercially available sensitive communications robot. Developed by Business Design Laboratory in cooperation with academia, "ifbot" is manufactured by Futaba Industrial and began shipping Last April.