Recently, Panasonic unveiled a new robot that looks like a washcloth--Except for the fact that it crawls along the floor, mopping up as it moves along.

The secret of the Fukitorimushi--which roughly translates to "wipe-up bug"--is its coat of nanofibers. Developed by  Teijin Fibers, each individual strand is 7,500 times thinner than a human hair, which, according to Panasonic, allows the Fukitorimushi to wipe up dust and debris that would be left behind by a typical wipe-down. The robot itself works like a cross between a housepet and a Roomba--it wanders around the house looking for dirt. When it finds some, the blue light up front turns red until the clean-up job is done. As Gizmag says, the device is cute--but only, perhaps, if you've got a Japanese sensibility. Which I've apparently got in spades, because I'd love to try one of these out. Sadly, for now its only a concept, though the device was trolling the grounds of the brilliant Senseware exhibit. 

[Via Gizmag]

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