IFA 2011: Prototypes, Printers and Paro the robot seal

There must be over 10,000 individual products on the stands of this year's IFA 2011 technology show in Berlin, and a good half of those are Android tablets and 3D televisions. But if you get into the briefing rooms behind each stand and trawl around the edges of the halls, there's a lot of other interesting stuff to be found. Ignoring the Elvis Presley kettle (yes, really), here's our pick of the prototypes and unusual products.

First, yes, the seal. It may look cute, but this is no toy: Paro, developed by Dr Takanori Shibata at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), is designed for theraputic use. Research suggests that spending time with animals (see Animal Assisted Therapy) can have both psychological and physiological benefits for patients, but in Japan few hospitals allow access to animals - so Paro is a robotic substitute.

The robot is about two feet long, extremely fluffy (with anti-biotic fur), and makes soothing seal-like noises. He interacts with patients if stroked, and moves his eyes and head in an attentive manner. If it's dark, he sleeps. The AIST claims that EEG analysis shows an increase in brain activity in dementure patients given access to Paro, and that when used in care homes for the elderly he has been shown to reduce stress levels. Paro is avaialable now, but this technology isn't cheap: around 4,500 Euros.

Another good idea - but one that's much cheaper - is Seagate's USM connector. This modified version of the SATA standard, already available on the company's GoFlex hard disks - is designed to allow storage devices to slot into other products. It's already available on a few, with a video recorder and PC case on show, but we like the look of this prototype TV set: simply copy video files to the hard disk (bright red, in this case), then plug it into the TV to watch them.

The USM television isn't yet being produced, but here's a clever product available now: the Nuu Minikey. If you love iPhone Apps, but can't abide the on-screen keyboard, this clever case includes a slide-out keyboard with proper tactile keys. It's available now from Firebox here.

.. and on the other end of the price scale, here's a bit of technology that's astonishingly clever but not really for home use. This printer, made by SIJ Technology of Tsukuba, Japan, can create droplets that are 1/10000th the size of the already tiny ones made by a home inkjet printer. And, unlike printers that are stuck with a certain type of ink, it can print just about anything - including semiconductive materials.

This means that it can print not just tiny pictures or text (although it can do that, too - we struggled to read some through a microscope), but working objects such as tiny lenses and transistors. Amazing stuff from a device not much larger than a microwave oven.