The world's first cellphone-controlled bipedal robot is limbering up for an early February debut, say co-developers KDDI Corp. and I Bee KK, a Tokyo-based systems development firm.

The aluminum robot will be sold online for a little under 200,000 yen and shipped as a kit, to be assembled by the purchaser.

The cellphone, the W21T produced by Toshiba Corp. and sold under KDDI's au brand, will communicate with the robot via Bluetooth short-range wireless communication.

The W21T sells for just over 20,000 yen, tax included.

To operate the robot, its instructions must first be downloaded from a Web site onto the cellphone and then forwarded to the robot, which stores the actions, such as walking, jumping and waving its hands, in its memory.

The cellphone can control the robot within a range of 10 meters.

Although the robot is designed for entertainment purposes only, KDDI and I Bee have more practical plans in mind for it in the future, including turning it into a roving home security camera.(IHT/Asahi: January 6,2005)