The Elfoid is a smaller version of the Telenoid R1, the robotic answering machine developed by the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR).
Telenoid R1 looked more than a little like a disembodied Casper, and could mimic speech and gestures sent to it by videophone, replicating a distant caller’s presence.
The Elfoid is the same, but fits in your pocket and tickles you when you’ve got a call.
“The mobile phone may feel like the person you are talking to,” News.com.au quoted the ATR as saying, while describing the gadget as a “revolutionary telecom medium”.
The project is a collaboration between Osaka University, the mobile telephone operator NTT DoCoMo and other institutes.
