Here’s an unusual robot project from the Tsumaki Telerobotics Laboratory (Yamagata University); a Wearable Robot. The experimental model (Telecommunicator T1) seeks to provide gestural presence that you don’t get from a cellphone conversation. A person connects to the small robot through the internet, controlling where it looks by simply tilting their head. Arm gestures, such as waving, are also possible though limited by the current hardware.

Anything the robot sees is transmitted to the operator via goggles, who can speak and hear through the robot’s speaker and microphone. Thus Telecommunicator T1 can be considered a small telepresence system.  Face-to-Robot conversations are facilitated by its position above the shoulder (roughly at eye-level), however the operator has no real control over where the robot goes, relying entirely on the choices of its human carrier.  Unfortunately the website hasn’t been updated recently, so the fate of this project (circa 2008) is currently unknown, but a highly amusing video follows after the break.

[source: Tsumaki Telerobotics Laboratory (JP)]

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On February 6th 2009, Toshiba unveiled ApriAttenda ver.2. The biggest improvement over the earlier model is the inclusion of two arms, both of which have 3-fingered hands with which the robot can grasp simple objects, such as specially designed food trays and handles.  It operates on AIST’s Open-HRP3 robot middleware.

The original ApriAttenda could follow a person around, presumably to keep an eye on them or your house while away. The new version is designed to take a much more active role, helping out the old and infirm around the home, moving about on wheels. Though its weight and battery life (operating on Li-ion batteries) weren’t specified, the robot’s unique ability to raise and lower its entire upper body (from 100cm to 130cm) was demonstrated.

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You’ve probably seen it by now, what with Jeffrey the Robot’s explosive popularity, but in case you missed it here’s a Super Bowl commercial that highlights a key difference in Eastern/Western thinking.  In America, big corporations like Intel spend millions of dollars on 30 second Super Bowl ads featuring computer-generated robots. In Japan, big corporations spend millions of dollars actually building them.

Video:

Which country has the right idea I’ll leave up to you, but personally I think it would be so much cooler if they had allocated the same budget towards a real one instead.  Especially since they have their own in-house software engineer who has built himself a robot that comes pretty darn close (see David Shinsel’s Loki).  Check out Jeffrey’s Facebook profile for some fun vacation “photos”.

[source: Intel @ YouTube] & [Jeffrey @ Facebook] via [GetRobo (JP)] & [Botjunkie]

Considering he lost one of his actors during production, it’s amazing that Terry Gilliam managed to complete Dr. Parnassus at all. He’s had a string of bad luck that left his version of Don Quixote incomplete, and then the studio decided to release this film so close to the juggernaut Avatar.

Like his other films it is a bit messy and confusing at times, as he catapults the characters into realms of their own imagining.  This amazing feat is possible thanks to the titular Imaginarium, a key to the story and how the film manages to continue in spite of Ledger’s death; his character takes on different appearances when inside of it.  Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell make cameos to fill in the gaps, and the transitions from one to the other seem quite natural given the Imaginarium’s power.

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PFU Limited, a subsidiary of Fujitsu, has developed a prototype dual display kiosk which uses face recognition to deliver a more personalized advertising experience, similar to their recent tests involving ENON.  It appears Fujitsu is actively looking to market in-store advertising systems, and is trying out different methods to see which one works best.  The kiosk’s top screen features a silly animated face created by Big Towns, a company specializing in computer graphics, while the bottom touch screen can be used as an interface.  Omron’s software can determine a person’s gender and estimates their age, which affects what product’s are advertised and how the digital character interacts with you.  If it can make you laugh, it scores your smile against others in its database.

Video:

[source: Robot-Fan.net]

First there was Robot Labs’ Robo Catcher; a gachapon game where you take control of a bipedal robot to pick up, carry, and toss prizes into an awaiting dispenser.  The Japanese version of the classic UFO catcher now has some competition from South Korea’s Minirobot – the makers of the Robonova (Robozak) hobby kits.  Their new hobby kit, Metal Fighter, is taking up residence inside a similar cabinet where it can be used by coordinated players to collect prizes.  The game will go on sale next month, and Minirobot expects it will be a popular attraction at theme parks, movie theaters, and arcades.  Watch Robo Catcher being played in the following video:

Video:

[source: Kyeongin (KR)]

developed and published by Capcom/1998.04.30
1 player/1 CD/SONY PlayStation, PSP

Capcom’s Breath of Fire games have never been top shelf material. The main selling point is a hero who can transform into a dragon, and Capcom’s signature 2d sprite-work. Despite owning all the games in the series, I’d only ever completed the original SNES game, when I decided to start Breath of Fire 3.

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Willow Garage received more than 120 letters of intent for their PR2 Beta Program from 27 countries and 5 continents.  The chance to work with a free robot of the PR2’s caliber is no doubt hard to ignore, and the commitment to open source and non-militaristic research is fantastic (especially given DARPA’s recent job posting).  The teams will be able to immediately share their work, so that others may use it or improve upon it, which will no doubt accelerate their research.  I’m excited to learn who will be involved and what their projects are going to be when the selections have been made, but we’ll have to wait until the actual proposals have been examined.  Good luck to everyone involved!

[source: Willow Garage]

Chinese hobbyist BloodKeith has built himself a pair of magnificent miniature robotic hands for the next in his line of TK humanoid robots, which he may also be selling at some point in the future.  The hands appear very similar to those developed by Crafthouse, which use a single servo to push and pull plastic strips to actuate all five fingers simultaneously.  Each link in the fingers is about 2cm long, with a 1cm knuckle – making the fingers 7cm (thumbs 5cm) long. Hit the source link for an assortment of videos showcasing the hands’ speed and ability to grasp cylindrical objects.  Earlier we saw his current robot, TK02, appear at a Chinese IT Festival.

Video:

[source: BloodKeith's blog (CN)] via [AVKeith @ YouTube]

Our friends at GetRobo point out that NASA’s original Robonaut was given a hand by London’s Shadow Robot Company. But according to Rich Walker, the Technical Director at Shadow Robot, NASA’s Robonaut2  does not utilize their hands.

Shadow Robot lists a number of institutions that have made use of their robotic hands, including a link to NASA’s Robonaut homepage (for their work on the original Robonaut).   They have also worked with such fine institutions as Carnegie Mellon, Cambridge University, and Tokyo University.

The new hand (seen in the foreground of the photo) is motorized giving it a smaller volume compared to the earlier air muscle version (background), and sports 24 individual degrees of freedom.

[source: Shadow Robot Company] via [GetRobo (JP)]