You must engage with Ki-pon...aka Keepon

[rabid1st]

For those of you who haven't heard, and that might be only one or two of you, there is a cute little robot who is making strides in engaging with autistic children. He was designed to alleviate the fear that children had of other mechanical interactive equipment. But a happy side effect was that everyone finds him endearing, so there is talk of making a more affordable commercial cousin for the masses. The original costs $30,000, but if you watch this vid until 1:15 or so, you will see that he is certainly earning his keep, even without his interactive noises.

Edit To Note Apparently, this isn't news at all and I am way behind the curve. This video is from 2007. Hey! I don't get out much. There is already a toy version of Keepon in stores like Toys R Us in America. The toy version is inexpensive but not really as engaging and not for autistic children. Though I do understand some proceeds go to Autism research. Check out this link for the interactive testing of the toy version...http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZOaT2A_VJ5A#!