Digital Contents Expo Tokyo: Giant squid robot Ikabo (video)

The Future University (cool name) in Hakodate, Northern Japan, presented the Ikabo, a giant squid robot at the Digital Contents Expo in Tokyo (that ended on Sunday). Not only is the robot tall (2.2m), cute and pretty heavy (weight: 200kg), but it also mimics your hand movements via Wii motion controllers.

Ikabo is based on an air servo system, and you can also move his head and even his eyes with the Wii controllers. It makes noises to scare potential alien invaders away (the robot was actually part of a promotional campaign that used this scenario to boost the numbers of tourists in Hakodate). Ikabo has a total of 12 joints that make him move like a real squid (well, kind of).

Here’s a short video I took at the expo that shows how Ikabo works:
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