ZHANG:
And in Japan, allergy sufferers dread the approach of spring. But this year a new robot might make life a bit more bearable. Here's more.

STORY:
People all over Japan are starting to don their white masks and take medicine to protect themselves from hay fever.

The pollen in the air triggers sneezing fits, streaming eyes and headaches.

Millions of allergy sufferers are tortured, especially those living in big cities like Tokyo.

But now, small, globe-shaped robots are providing some relief for them.

Japan's Weather News information company has produced 500 "pollen-level detection" robots.

They can gauge the amount of pollen in the air and issue warnings on a scale from one to five.

[Naoko Tani, Weather News Spokesperson]:
"You cannot really see pollen, but these detectors help you find out the exact pollen levels at a particular location at a particular time."

The spherical, fluorescent smiley-like robots are installed in homes across Japan.

Data collected by these machines are transmitted to the company's headquarters to be then released on the Internet.

This helps hay fever suffers like Yoichi Kouro.

[Yuishi Kouro, Hay Fever Sufferer]:
"This information allows me to plan ahead and avoid going outside at certain hours of the day."

Experts say that changes in lifestyle and housing environments over the years have exposed more people to the agony of hay fever.

But the main culprit for producing pollen are cedar trees which cover more than ten percent of Japan.