A press release from the company presents “PaPeRo Mini”, a droid-like mobile robot. As the name suggests, the machine is smaller than previous versions of PaPeRo (25 cm tall instead of 38 cm).
As before, the PaPero Mini intends to serve as a “conversational robot”: it can move around and is able to perform speech recognition, speech synthesis, sound source detection and face recognition.
I’m not sure they intend to sell it on a short time basis though.
(Image: © Nec)
Don’t miss these images of FT, Tomotaka Takahashi’s latest creation. The small humanoid robot was “specially designed to express a lean, feminine body line” and the result is just great (check the videos here and here). Robots on a catwalk? Yeah.
Mary King, in her essay “Robots & AI in Japan and the West“:
“Integrating robots into Japanese society is less complex than in the West because Japanese revere both animate and inanimate objects, have historically taken a positive view of technology, and enjoy a culture where robots are presented as friends. Western dualistic thinking splits concepts into ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and historically and culturally robots and technology have been perceived as potential threats to humanity and God.”
Via Robots.net
According to The Japan Times, it will be possible next year to rent a robotic-exoskeleton. Designed by Pr. Yoshiyuki Sankai, the famous “cyborg-type suit” has been described as a unique tool to help elderly or disabled people in their daily lives. The 2005 version of the exoskeleton was described as:
“a robot suit which can expand and improve physical capabilities of human being. By wearing it, you can hold up to 40 kg load by arms and can increase the maximum weight of leg press from 100 kg to 180 kg.”
Now the robotic tool is going to become a reality, as explained by The Japan Times:
“The professor has already tied up with Daiwa House Industry Co. and the company started constructing a manufacturing facility recently to produce 400 to 500 suits annually starting in 2008. For an individual, the suit will be leased for 70,000 yen [$590] a month plus a maintenance fee.”
Via The Raw Feed
Very good reading on News.com today: “Baby steps for Dexter the robot“. Its a long piece, mostlty focused on Dexter, a human-sized robot being built by US-based start-up Anybots. The young company is quite ambitious:
“Anybots wants its creations to be all-purpose, not specialized à la Roomba. The goal is nothing less than to create a robot that can be taught to do all the things humans can do.”
The whole article is worth reading and gives a good view on the state of advancement in the humanoid robots fields. Reading this article, one gets the feelling that the US have eventually decided to catch up with Japan in the humanoid race.
Speaking of Japan, there is an interesting interview of Stephen Keeney, North American Asimo project leader at Honda, on Tech Digest. Nothing really new here, but it’s a good summary of the goals (and achieved steps) of the Asimo project, which remains one of the most advanced large size humanoid robot in the world. This quote from Keeney is quite noticeable:
“Asimo is a new technology that will continue to evolve, but we hope in about 10 years we’ll start to see versions working in homes or hospitals. I just hope by the time I retire, I’ll be able to have an Asimo!”
Wow. 10 years!
Absolute Gadget reports that “Plen” is now available, for about $2,400 (it’s a limited edition, though).
Plen is a small and cute robot created by japanese maker Akazawa. Dubbed “Desktop Hobby Robot”, it’s a 700g, 23cm tall, Bluetooth-equipped robot with 18 degrees of freedom. It walks on two legs and is able to perform different complex movements, including roller-skating. A humanoid robot able to do roller-skating on its own… how cool is that?
Image: © Akazawa
