Japanese robots

Paro wins award

2006-12-23T09:35:00.000+09:00

BBC news is reporting that the baby-seal therapeutic robot "Paro" has won the won the service prize at the Japanese-government sponsored Robot Awards 2006. Paro is not noew however, I first covered it way back in 2004.

Nanotech and robots, is Japan the ideal place?

2006-08-26T12:57:00.000+09:00

I have recently been reading a bit about future robot technologies, in particular the work of Ray Kurzweil such as "The Age of Spiritual Machines" and his most recent book "The Singularity is Near". There is a lot of interesting stuff in these books about the way future technological innovations and progress will change our lives. Now, you can argue with some of Kurzweil`s predictions and I am sure many of them will be dismissed as fanciful by a lot of readers. However, his prediction about the future development of robotics and AI are interesting. Kurzweil envisages a future where robots will become our physical and intellectual superiors and the only way we will be able to stop from becoming just another evolutionary dead end will not be by trying to compete with the robots (our biological evolution is far to slow to stand a chance of competing with the exponential increase in the information processing capabilities) but rather, we will merge with the robots, initially as human-machine hybrids and, possibly, in the long term, migrating to full machine based life forms. All this will be possible only with advances in nanotechnology. Nanotechnology will be required if robots are to be able to better animals physically (just look at the clunky walking of even the most advanced of the current generation of bipedal robots and compare it to human movement generated by the action of billions of molecular motors to see the benefits of nanoscale technology). Nanotechnology will also be required if robots are ever to reach human levels of intelligence. Now, the question of whether conscious machines can be made and whether artificial intelligence at human or greater than human level is even possible is a huge, contentious debate which cuts across all areas of science and philosophy and is one that I can`t even begin to touch upon here. For those of you who want to get into this argument, one interesting place to start is the "Chinese Room" argument put forward by philosopher John Searle as a way of showing that machines could not posses "strong AI" (a form of artificial intelligence that is conscious and able to reason rather than blindly follow instructions). Reading this argument and counter arguments should provide some basic background to the AI debate. The argument in favour of the eventual emergence of truly intelligent robots goes something like this: Most scientists believe that there is no non-physical component to the brain, i.e. there is no spirit or magical substance that resides in your head, rather everything that makes you you comes from the physical properties of the neurons, chemicals, etc that constitute your brain and that consciousness, thinking etc is simply the "emergent property" of a lot of electrical and chemical signals running through the complex circuitry of your brain. Given that this is the case it should be possible to copy one information processing device (your brain) using a different information processing device (a computer chip). The materials may be different, but so long as they both process information in the same way, the results should be the same. Of course the brain is a pretty complicated organ and so it would require a complicated computer chip to equal it. This is essentially a question of miniaturization. The fundamental component of the computer processor is the transistor. Transistors are continuously shrinking as manufacturers try to fit more and more into their chips and current chip design is already well into the realm of nanotechnology consisting of feature sizes below 100 nanometres. Continuing miniaturization will require new manufacturing technologies but is likely to proceed apace meaning that our computer chips will continue to get faster and faster (for the same price). Finally, in order to interface non biological and biological systems together, we will also need nanotechnology. Trying to interface the miniscule circuitry of a computer chip seamlessly to the tiny features on single neurons is going to require devices on the nanoscale.

So where does Japan fit into all of this? As we all know, Japan is pretty much the world leader in robotics and the physical capabilities its robots show are second to none. It is continuing to make use of its traditional strength in miniaturization to make the robots physically more capable and robust. In addition, Japan has a long history in just the kind of nanotechnology that will be required to produce intelligent robots: The country has long been a leading producer of computer chips and companies such as Toshiba, Panasonic, and NTT continue to carry out cutting-edge research, this is helped by the extremely strong academic research in the appropriate areas of the physical sciences that Japan enjoys. I can see that it is only a matter of time before some bright researchers begin to combine these fields and start producing a newer generation of smarter, faster robots. What does that mean for us bog-standard humans? I`m not sure...

2006-06-11T08:41:00.000+09:00

When all else fails, post a photo of the Hello-Kitty Robot (it can talk with you!)

Life-like robot MC

2006-05-14T08:31:00.000+09:00

There are 3 basic aproaches as to the appearance of a robot: Don`t try to make it look life-like, try to make it somewhat life-like, or try to make it very life-like. The problem with option one is that people tend not to interact with something that is obviously a machine, or at least, their interactions are not very deep. Option two has the so-called "uncanny valley effect" where at first people think that the robot is organic but then, they realise that it is a machine, and the fact that the machine looks partially life-like makes them feel uneasy. The problem with the third option is that it is very difficult to make a robot look very life-like and if it fails, it runs the risk of falling into the uncanny-valley problem mentioned above. If it succeeds it runs into another problem - if a robot looks completely realistic then people will expect realistic behaviour; if your robot looks exactly like a cat, you had better make sure it can do all the things a cat can do, otherwise people will be very disappointed. The robot on the righ above is an attempt to make a robot that looks very life-like. I hesitate to call it a "robot" as it has essentially no autonomy. Nevertheless its face, was very human looking and shows the direction that the external appearance or robots may be taking. Already such robots have been used in a limited role in information booths at expos etc. It won`t be long before we see them at reception desks and info booths at department stores and companies. Apologies for the short length and distance of the video. It was unavoidable due to the crowding at the venue.

2006-04-16T11:15:00.000+09:00

This is a new robot from Tmusk, the RIDC-01. It is about 4 feet tall. It is one of those robots I am not too sure about. It is big, heavy and has a strange combination of functions, the main ones being floor cleaning and the ability to project DVD movies from its head. Of course! An obvious combination. One assumes it is aimed at businesses; very few homes in Japan need such a large floor cleaning `bot. It can also speak and recognise voice commands. How useful those capabilities are in a machine whose main job is to shine the floor and project the occasional movie, I�m not sure. The cost, 10 million yen (50 thousand pounds, 85 thousand US dollars) is a bit steep. I�d rather buy a rhoomba and a nice projector and have enough cash left over for, erm, a sports car. I am not sure if they are on sale yet, if they are, I bet they�re just flying off the shelves.

Does Japan need a "Manhattan Project" for robots.

2006-03-25T14:17:00.000+09:00

Looking at my blog, you can see how advanced the research into producing advanced robots, particularly humanoid robots is in Japan. But still the hope of producing a robot with sufficient mechanical prowess to interact fluently with humans and our world and sufficiently advanced AI to do useful tasks and communicate with us still seems a long way off. For Japan especially, with its falling and ageing population the requirement for such robots in the not-too-distant-future is pressing. Some of the technologies required are already being developed, some seem a long way off. To prepare and integrate all the technologies required will be a mammoth task indeed, but the payoffs potentially huge. I wonder if Japan needs to really treat it like the Manhattan Project or putting a man on the mun, i.e. set an ambitious goal and then really fund it to the hilt... The technologies we will need, as I see it are:

1. Power supplies. Current batteries are too heavy and cannot supply enough power. Their life is too short and their recharge time too long. Fuel cells offer the potential to overcome all of these problems and are already well advanced.

2. Movement. Most robots still move using electric motors, these are too big, too heavy and cannot move quickly enough to give the speedy "bouncy" movements we see in humans and other animals. Artificial muscles perhaps bases on shape-memory alloys offer one solution and are already being researched. It seems quite possible that such technologies may become widespread.

3. Senses. Some robot senses such as vision are already beyond human ability. Others such as the the all-over touch sensitivity of our skin seem more difficult to replicate.

4. Artificial Intelligence. The biggest problem! To work in our wolrd and to interact with us, robots will need an understanding of how our world works and how we humans think. To do this they will need at least some idea of what it means to be human. If you know what it means to be human does this mean you are, at least, partially human? Clearly robots with such abilities are still a long, long way off. This will be the big challenge.

2006-03-25T14:16:00.000+09:00

A close up of Nagara III. He looked OK but not especially friendly! I guess this robot will go through quite a lot more prototype stages before it is ready to be sold to the general public.

2006-03-12T16:14:00.000+09:00

This is the "nagara" robot produced with funding from NEDO. It is a protototype that is being designed as a kind of lifestyle partner. A robot that will be able to play with humans, by, for example, kicking a ball.

Robonova

2006-02-18T12:13:00.000+09:00

Robonova is actually produced by a Korean manufacturer but I had to include it because it is cool. Here it is doing a Tai-Chi routine but it can even turn cartwheels. All thanks to some nifty programming and 16 digital servos.

2006-01-28T20:07:00.000+09:00

This is a video I took showing the HRP2 humanoid robot doing a martial arts routine.

2006-01-28T19:22:00.000+09:00

With all the hype around humanoid robots it is easy to forget that by far the biggest market in the world for robots is in industrial robots. industrial robots first appeared in the USA in the 1960s but by the late 70s Japan had improved the designs and was filling a seemingly insatiable demand for the machines in its own booming manufacturing market. As of 2005 Japan still maintained dominance of this sector with Japanese companies making the majority of the robots and Japan itself still accounting for around half of all industrial robots in the entire world, although its share is diminishing as other countries rapidly add to their stocks.

Bye Bye Aibo

2006-01-28T19:12:00.000+09:00

According to news reports Sony is stopping all of its robot research. This means that soon production of the Aibo robot dog will cease and, presumably, Qrio, the prototype humanoid robot, will also be canned. This is an interesting development although I suspect that it has more to do with attempts by Sony to overturn a few years of not so good results rather than a general malaise inthe robot field. Indeed, one can`t help wondering if Sony is leaving at just the wrong time...

MuuSocial

2006-01-16T22:13:00.000+09:00

I can`t decide if these little fellows are cute or scary. They are called MuuSocial. I am not sure who the manufacturers are, I think they are being developed by Advanced Telecommunication Research Institute International. While many researchers into home robots have spent a lot of time in either making their robots as clever as possible or a physically advanced as possible, these researchers have taken a different tack. As far as they are concerned, the home robot of the future is about providing a friendly and intuitive interface between the human and the myriad networked systems in the home. The key to natural and effortless communication between man and machine relies on humans being able to relate to the machine on an emotional level. And MuuSocial is being developed with that end in mind, kind of like an emotionally intelligent network hub.

Japanese robot book update

2006-01-07T00:57:00.000+09:00

Good news! It looks like I am about to get a literary agent for my Japanese robot book. I had been hoping to get one for a while. Now, if things go well and the agent agrees, I can turn my attention back to writing the book. I hope it will be published later this year. I`ll be sure to keep you updated on my progress.

Fujitsu HOAP 3

2006-01-07T00:42:00.000+09:00

Fujitsu recently revealed the newest addition to the HOAP line of robots; HOAP3. These small robots resemble Sony`s QRIO and are produced and sold by Fujitsu to research labs in universities and companies. The owners use the robots to test their own behaviour and movement control algorithms. Unfortunately I did not get a photo of HOAP 3 but I did take a video of it which you can see above

Emiew front view

2006-01-07T00:38:00.000+09:00

A front view of Emiew.

Hitachi Emiew

2006-01-07T00:37:00.000+09:00

This is Hitachi`s Emiew robot. The robot has a vocabulary of around 100 words. Its apparent weakness; wheels instead of legs, is being marketed as a strength by the company: It means that the robot can move much more quickly than the standard bipeds. Hitachi hopes that the robot will be ready for use in the home and office in a few years time.

Can a robot be an artist?

2005-12-18T11:45:00.000+09:00

Can a robot be an artist? The mechanics of robots continues to steadily evolve. In recent years we have seen the rise of robots that can stand up, walk, run (in a manner), even ride a bicycle. While these abilities still lag some way behind humans is is inevitable, as smaller, more poweful motors and power supplies are developed and new technologies such as shape-memory alloys and shape-memory polymers begin to be used in artificial muscles, that human-like physical abilities will be achieved. But in artificial intelligence, the question of whether human level abilities wil ever be possible is still very much unanswered. Take the ability to create art. The above kanji is pronounced "budo" and means "Way of the Warrior" and was drawn by an Japanese artist. While a robot may be able to copy this art would it be able to create something so beautiful? Presumably it would need human-like life experiences, and an appreciation of what beauty is. Can such feelings be programmed into a robot and is there any reason that a robot`s sense of what is beautiful would be the same as a human`s given the very different ways the two are likely to see the world?

Ballroom `bots

2005-12-11T19:46:00.000+09:00

There were some robots I hadn`t seen before including these ballroom-dancing robots known as PBDR (Partner Ballroom Dancing Robot). Professor Kazuhiro Kosuge is in charge of the research project developing the robots at Tohoku Unoversity (not Tokhuro as CNN and others reported, there is no such place). Notice the gap in the front of their "skirts" so that their human practice partner can move his legs.I saw a video of the robots being used to practice dancing but i have no idea if they are actually intended to be sold.

International Robot Exhibition - HRP-2

2005-12-11T19:35:00.000+09:00

Last week I went to the International Robot exhibition in Tokyo. There were so many robots too see. Of course, the most popular robots were the humanoids. For some years now, AIST and Kawada industries have been researching this robot, called HRP-2. It is the height of a small adult and appears to have similar abilities to Honda`s Asimo. The ultimate aim is for the robot to assist humans at home and in the workplace. At the exhibition, HRP-2 did some traditional Japanese drumming. I have uploaded a video of the drumming here.

Roborior

2005-11-05T08:18:00.000+09:00

It wasn`t very long ago that home robots seemed like science fiction. In recent years some bots have beome available but have been quite difficult to get hold of. If trend-setting Japan is anything to go by, we may soon be moving into an era of more ubiquitous robots. The above robot is called "Roborior" (a typically Japanese melding of the words "robot" and "interior"). It is produced by tmusk and shares the same features as many of its predecessors. These include a gurard mode for when you are away from your house, in this mode it will contact you via your mobile telephone it it detects unexpected movement. The robot can also be remotely controlled via a mobile phone giving the user a remote presence in the house and the ability to hold a conversation through the robot. With the latest generation of mobile video phones already exisitng in Japan, it is possible, through the robot, to make a video call from your mobile to your house wand have the video displayed on the home television! Japan is the most rapidly ageing population in the wolrd and this robot is clearly being marketed at busy professionals as an easy way of keeping an eye on elderly relatives as well as a for use as a standard guard robot. It is available now at the Takamaya dpartment store, a chain of large shops that are spread throughout Japan. The price of almost 300,000 yen (1,500 pounds) means it is still outside the means of most people but is the cheapest such robot I have seen, The prices are only going to get lower.

Pino

2005-10-16T15:18:00.000+09:00

Technologically Pino is only mildly impressive, a cute Pinocchio for the 21st century, Its real revolutionary feature is the fact that it is the first open-source robot, a kind of robotic version of the Linux operating system. The brainchild of Hiroaki Kitano, Pino was conceived as a robot that would be accessible to everyone; hence it is made from off-the-shelf parts. More importantly, the specifications of the robot in terms of both hardware and software are freely available for anyone to modify and improve. In this way, Kitano hopes that the robot`s abilities will be advanced much more quickly than if it were being developed by a small group behind closed doors.

Bicycling robot

2005-10-08T20:47:00.000+09:00

Until this week, almost nobody in Japan had heard of Murata Manufacturing, a small electrical device manufacturing company based near Kyoto. But then they displayed their "Murataseisaku-kun" robot (literally, "Murata-manufacturing boy") at the interantional Ceatec technology show in Tokyo and the robot made national and international headlines. The robot stands about 50 cm in height and weighs 5 kilos. It can ride a one eigth scale bicycle with great accuracy; at the show it cycled along a beam just 3 centimetres wide. It can recognise obstacles and can go in reverse. The in-built cameras also allow it to follow the path of a line drawn on the floor.

The robot uses internal sensors (presumably some form of gyroscope) to sense and maintain balance. Gripping the handlebars of the bike also helps it to keep balanced. It can achieve a top speed of 2 km/h.

It took about 20 million Yen (100,000 pounds sterling, 175,000 USD) to develop. Unfortunately, I was not able to go to the show in Tokyo so I do not have a photo, but you can see a picture here.

Asimo

2005-10-08T20:40:00.000+09:00

I can't believe that I have never mentioned Honda's Asimo robot before! I have seen it a few times and it is very impressive. If you are in Tokyo you can easily see it at Honda's Aoyama Icchome showroom. Asimo is the fruit of twenty years of labour, much of it in secret, by researchers at Honda. The latest version is able to walk upstairs and over rough terrain, carrying its own power supply, a feature that renders it autonomous. It can also recognize and respond to human gestures and voice commands and even run (albeit very slowly).
Already, Asimo has become something of a celebrity; recently it became the first non-human to open the New York Stock Exchange and, in Asimo's native Japan, the robot has featured in advertisements for other Honda products. You can find out more about Asimo at Honda`s own pages here.

M-TRAN II

2005-10-02T10:41:00.000+09:00

Here M-TRAN II is moving like a wheel. In the background you can just about see a model on legs that walks. The robot can interchange between all forms without outside control. You can see a very short video I took of a M-TRAN II walking here. As the video ends you can see the robot being put on its back. In response it simply inverts its legs! More about M-TRAN II will feature in my book.

M-TRAN II

2005-10-02T10:39:00.000+09:00

M-TRAN II is built by researchers at AIST in Japan.

In many ways, MTRAN i's simplicity coalition`t be further from the complex humanoid designs of many of today`s cutting-edge robots but its modular design and flexibility make it, in many ways, the most impressive robot of them all.
MTRAN II is a modular robot, designed from small, simple parts, and has an amazing ability to change its shape. MTRAN can be happily walking on four legs like a dog when it encounters a gate, the only way through being a small clearance between the gate and the ground. At this point, MTRAN II can change shape, becoming long and snakelike to wriggle through the hole before transforming again at the other side. When miniaturization technology shrinks its components by hundreds or thousands of times, it is interesting to imagine what truly amazing feats MTRAN II may be capable of. Here we see it locomotion like an inchworm.

Not a Transformer!

2005-10-01T08:00:00.000+09:00

It looks like a Transformer - but it`s real! This is the t-musk T-52. It designed to be a rescue robot with those huge arms for clearing away rubble from collapsed building or wreckage from a car crash. In fact it is, stricty speaking, not a robot at all as it does not act autonomously but is tele-operated. However, it is sobering to think that one day, with the right AI software one of these things may be rescuing you from a burning vehicle without any human intervention! I am not sure whether to include this machine in my robot book. As always, if you have any requests for robots to be included in the book or just to voice your interest in the book (to make sure I can get a publisher) please leave a comment.

Robot book

2005-09-29T17:14:00.000+09:00

I am currently working on a book about Japanese robots. It will cover all the latest and most exciting robots in Japan including photographs, interviews with the inventors and researchers as well as speculation about the likely future of robot research in Japan. To get a publisher I need to demonstrate a market for the book. If you are interested, please leave a comment.

2005-09-18T18:22:00.000+09:00

PaPeRo is a 14-year-long, 10-million-dollar research project being conducted by electronics giant NEC. PaPeRO will help the company to study the interactions between humans and robots, allowing NEC researchers to test a range of different behavioural and artificial intelligence algorithms.
At the moment PaPeRo can recognize faces and obstacles, and can dance. It is able to understand simple verbal instructions and respond appropriately with speech, simple facial expressions or actions. It can also take photographs and connect to the Internet.

HAL-5 Robo-suit

2005-08-07T14:28:00.000+09:00

I went back to the Aichi World Expo to see a special prototype robot exhibition that was running for 2 weeks only. There were many robots there and I will be highlighting them in this blog in the weeks to come. First up is not strictly a robot but a "Power-assist" suit called "Robot suit HAL-5." It is an exoskeleton that augments the strength of the wearer. It is interesting that these suits feature heavily in Japanese science fiction manga (usually in a more massive and heavily-armed form). One can`t help wondering just how much some of the scientists involved have been influenced by the manga and anime they have been exposed too! The suit works by detecting nerve impulses heading to muscles and anticipating which muscle will be moved. Electric motors in the suit`s joints are then activated to move in tadem with the joint, providing extra strength. The suit has obvious uses for people who suffer from weak muscles, those who need to lift heavy objects as well as obvious military uses. New Scientist has run a story on the suit and the Japanese research group from Tsukuba University has apparently set up a company to promote the suit here. Note that the suit is called HAL and the company is called Cyberdyne. These people really like their science-fiction! By the way the suit looks much more impressive when switched on with all the joints bathed in a blue neon light!

Life-like robot

2005-05-03T14:00:00.000+09:00

Here is a very life-like robot that is used as a receptionist/information provider. As far as I could tell however, only its face was capable of movement.

Wakamaru

2005-05-03T13:57:00.000+09:00

Here is another picture of Mitsubishi's Wakamaru robot. Not sure if it is cute or scary...

Automata

2005-04-24T14:47:00.000+09:00

There was also a nod to the history of robots with what appeared to be some old European automota.

Wakamaru

2005-04-24T14:43:00.000+09:00

Mitsubishi's Wakamaru robot was also on show. This robot has a sophisticated 10,000 word vocabulary and is being developed by Mitsubishi as a robot that will be able to integrate into a family home where it will be able to interact with and do chores for family members.

Papero

2005-04-24T14:40:00.000+09:00

This is a robot called Papero, produced by NEC. At the moment a couple of dozen have been built. They are cute and react to touch and a limited number of voice commands, replying to greetings etc. This robot was very popular with children.

2005-04-24T14:39:00.000+09:00

This is another guard robot from ALSOK

2005-04-24T14:38:00.000+09:00

I recenty went to the World Expo in Aichi province. There are quite a lot of robots there, particularly in the NEDO pavillion. While queing there I saw this security guard robot produced by a company called tmusk.

New robots

2005-03-13T14:24:00.000+09:00

OK, OK, its been a while since I updated this page. It is simply because I haven't been to see any new robots recently. All that should change sometime in the next few weeks because I am planning to go to Expo 2005. Expo is being held in Aichi, Japan and unsuprisingly the Japanese companies that are exhibiting there are keen to show off their latest models. You can find out a lot about the robots that will be at Expo here . You can also easily navigate back to Expo's main page where you can choose another language and find out more about the other non-robotic exhibits, many of which are very intersting. Expo 2005 opens on March 25th and I hope to go there soon after.

2004-12-12T11:29:00.000+09:00

We could also see old robots at RoboPlaza. This is an old Tmusk model 01. Robots have come a long way since it first appeared.

2004-12-12T11:23:00.000+09:00

Paro was at RoboPlaza, proving as popular as ever!

2004-12-12T11:21:00.000+09:00

Roboplaza has demonstrations throughout the day. Here a child is handing some flowers to a robot built by the Japanese firm "Tmusk" whcih is also responsible for the "Banryu" home security robot which I hope to cover at some point. Note that this robot is being controlled by the woman in the background. As she moves the mechanical arms, her movements are reproduced by the robot. I was able to try out these manipulators myself, it was pretty fun.

2004-12-12T11:16:00.000+09:00

While the robot's AI is still not good enough to keep an adult engaged for very long, children seemed to like it. When asked the date, for example, the robot replied correctly. This boy told the robot "You're cute." and the robot responded with words to the effect of "You think I'm cute? Thank you!"

Hello Kitty Robot

2004-12-12T11:13:00.000+09:00

I recently paid a visit ot the city of Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu. Here there is an interesting sctivity centre called "RboPlaza". It contains a number of the latest Japanese robots with which visitors can interact. Above is a new "Hello Kitty" from the Business Design Laboratory. This robot is already in production and costs around 500,000 Yen. The company building is responsible for ifBot which I have discussed previously. The Kitty robot is based on the same technology. Its movements are limited but it has a fairly impressive AI, allowing it to understand simple speech and formulate correct replies.

Great source of robot news

2004-10-17T20:34:00.000+09:00

If you really want to be kept up to date you should check out redcone robot news. It has loads of news and links about robots.

2004-10-17T20:26:00.000+09:00

HOAP-2 can even stand on its head. In the near future the robot will gain hearing capabilities such as speech and sound recognition. The long term goal is to give the robot independent artificial intelligence.

2004-10-17T20:25:00.000+09:00

Here HOAP-2 mimics a sumo-wrestler.

2004-10-17T20:24:00.000+09:00

HOAP-2 is an agile robot, it can get to its feet from a lying position. By the way, the black cable is a power supply. The robot can also run off a nickel metal-hydride battery.

HOAP-2

2004-10-17T20:21:00.000+09:00

I just recently went to Fujitsu's research centre in Atsugi. This is the home of HOAP-2, a toddler-sized bipedal robot that has been the focus of research for Fumio Nagashima and his lab for some years. The robot has impressive walking abilities, in terms of both speed and agility. It also uses a special kind of algorithm to walk. While most robots calculate their gait using a system called ZMP (Zero Moment Point) the area where the gravity and inertia acting on the robot meet the ground. Most robots try to keep this point within an area in which the robot is known to be stable. The calculations are, however, very complex and require a large amount of computing power. HOAP-2 by contrast uses diffrerent calculations using an NP (numerical pertubation) CPG (central pattern generator) whose equations are based on fluid dynamics. This system is much less intensive allowing HOAP-2 to calcuate its steps using nothing more than a pentium III. HOAP-2 is already on sale to commercial and academic researchers. You can find out more, including some nice movies here.

Comet III Guardian article

2004-09-19T17:13:00.000+09:00

There has been a bit of a lull in my robot reports as I haven't been to see any recently. I hope to restart next month. Robots are never far from my mind though and recently I wrote a newspaper article about Comet III which appeared on the 9th September in The Guardian, a national newspaper in the U.K. You can read the text of the article on the Guardian's website.

Ifbot

2004-08-29T18:11:00.000+09:00

Paro is not the only robot trying to engage with people at an emotional level. A joint industry-academic project between the Business Design Laboratories based in Nagoya Japan, and the Department of Intelligence and Computer Science at the Nagoya Institute of Technology has resulted in Ifbot.

Ifbot attempts to communicate not through the soothing effects of movement and touch as is the case with Paro (although an attempt has been made to give the robot a pleasingly cute egg-like shape) but rather through its ability to converse. As is so often the case in Japan, the research has been spurred on by the fact that Japan's population is ageing rapidly and the robot is seen as being a possible companion for elderly people living alone. The inventors however, have wider ambitions, envisaging a time when the robot will be a part of the family unit.

In order to make communicating with Ifbot as rewarding as possible the robot has voice and face recognition abilities which allow it to recall the person it is talking to. It also has a face tracking system allowing it to keep that all-important eye contact. The robot expresses emotions using the LEDs on its face, allowing it to show up to 40 expressions. It has a vocabulary of over 10,000 words and a speaking ability similar to that of a young child. It is already on sale in Japan, retailing at around 500,000 Yen (2500 pounds).

Paro

2004-08-01T15:53:00.000+09:00

I recently saw this robot at the National Institute of Advanced Science and Technology (NAIST), in Tsukuba, Japan. The Senior Research Scientist in charge of the research project is called Takanori Shibatra and his office is a shrine to the success of his robot, Paro.

Paro is intended for use mainly as a therapeutic robot, in hospitals, old people's homes etc. Anywhere where people could benefit from the calming effects that have long been associated with interacting with a pet. Paro of course has several advantages over a pet - it doesn`t need exercising or feeding and if you have an allergy it is no problem.

Beneath Paro's fluffy exterior there lie a whole host of touch sensors which enable the robot to detect in detail the wayit is being touched and respond appropriately. By simple movements and very cute facial expressions it is able to achieve a remarkable effect on those with whom it interacts. For this reason it has been proclaimed the "World's most therapeuic robot" by the Guiness Book of Records.

Comet III

2004-07-21T22:48:00.000+09:00

While fashionable bipedal entertainment robots grab all the headlines and certainly will change our lives in the future, some robot researchers are trying to make a real difference in the most needy places in the world right now. One such researcher is Kenzo Nonami at Chiba University. His group are building the "Comet" series of robots. The latest of which, Comet III is shown above. These robots are designed to detect land mines. In particular they will first be used in Afghanistan, a country which has 10 million mines that kill up to 300 people a month. Detecting the mines is a dangerous and slow job that is just crying out to be automated. Comet III is a big 900 kg robot that can move around on caterpillar tracks for speed and on 6 insect-like legs when it needs to pick its way through a minefield. It can negotiate terrain autonomously using advanced stereo-vision. It detects mines using metal detectors and ground piercing radar, marking the area for mine clearance machines. Some of the technology in Comet III will be used next year in another prototype that the team will take to Afghanistan for field testing. Comet IV is already being built. You can check out the labs homepage here.

Interested in Japan?

2004-07-17T14:13:00.000+09:00

You can see more about Japan in my other blog; http://greenteaandsushi.blogspot.com/

Aibo ERS-7

2004-07-17T14:09:00.000+09:00

The new era in Japanese robotics probably began back in the late 1990s when Sony released Aibo, the robot dog. It was a big sucess and has been continually improved. This is the latest model, the ERS-7 (sunflowers optional). I took this photo at the Sony showroom in Ginza, Tokyo. A great place to visit if you like gadgets.

What is it about robots in Japan?

2004-07-17T13:56:00.000+09:00

Japan has a long history of making robots. In the 19th century there were tea-serving robots. These machines, called karakuri, had incredibly sophisticated mechanisms driven by a spring made from whale baleen (teeth-like body parts used in filtering food from sea water). A tea-serving automaton could move across a room bearing a tray of tea. Once the guest had taken the tea, emptied their cup and replaced it on the tray, the robot would turn and 'walk' away. Japan's modern love affair with robots probably began in the 1950s with an incredibly popular called Tetsuwan Atom (Atom Boy as he is known elsewhere). The cartoon, about a powerful but good robot boy influenced a whole generation and seemed to fix forever in the Japanese mind the firm belief that robots will only ever be our friends and benefactors.

Today Japan accounts for more than half the industrial robots in use in the world and probably has an even greater monopoly on leisure robots.