Fuji Soft Inc. has unveiled its first commercial bipedal humanoid robot at the All Japan Robot Tournament (Sumo Wrestling) competition, which it also sponsors.  It is expected they will target universities and other educational institutes, meaning Aldebaran Robotics’ NAO may have some competition in Japan (with home field advantage no less). Also, one imagines the All Japan Robot Tournament will introduce a new standard class humanoid sumo league to their competitions, which could be quite popular given the often unbalanced nature of ROBO-ONE fights.

Some of the robot’s specifications have been revealed: it runs Linux Ubuntu on an Intel ATOM 1.66GHz CPU integrated with Eclipse and wireless LAN.  It stands 39.8cm (15″) tall, weighs 1.56kg (3.5 lbs), and will have 20 degrees of freedom (2 legs x6, 2 arms x3, head x2).  An LED array in its visor will display various expressions, which jives well with its overall AIBO-like appearance.  As far as sensors, the robot will be capable of image and speech recognition, so it will have at least one camera and microphone.  I expect it will be priced competitively with Vstone’s Robovie-PC.  A video follows after the break.

Update: Fuji Soft’s PALRO press conference.

[source: Impress Robot Watch (JP)]

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Image credit:
Impress Robot Watch

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