It’s been some tough months for the three humanoids, which Japan showcased at the Shanghai Expo to demonstrate the country’s dominance in robotics. The machines, dubbed Yume Robo, have been climbing up and down a 15-meter wall at the Japanese pavilion every 20 minutes, for the last 184 days. → Read More
We have shown you many super-realistic androids from Japan in the past. But Actroid-F, along with what appears to be her twin sister Geminoid-F, certainly take the cake as far as realism is concerned. Actroid-F made a public showing in Tokyo a few days ago, dressed as a nurse who could work in hospitals as an “observer”. → Read More
We know her as a pretty creepy cyber-model, a bridezilla, and a singer. And now cybernetic human robot HRP-4C, brain child of Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), has learned how to dance, too. → Read More
Do you remember the HRP-4c, one of the most realistic humanoids out there? Made by Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, the fembot was so far mostly known as a pretty creepy cyber-model and bridezilla. In December last year, we’ve shown you a video of her trying to sing – and now she’s gotten better at that. → Read More
Yesterday, we showed you “Little Seiko”, a pretty awesome unicycling mini humanoid developed by Japan-based Murata. As reported, the new version (the first model appeared 5 years ago) boasts the ability to traverse an S-shaped balance beam without falling over. But yesterday, we could show you just a picture and no video – now we can. → Read More
Japan-based electronics company Murata caused a splash two years ago with Little Seiko, a a small humanoid robot [JP] that can unicycle forward and backward and is also able to stop without falling over. A male version, Little Seisaku [ENG], with similar skills exists, too. And now, Murata has announced [JP] 2010 updates for the robots. → Read More
I’m telling you, Terminators are just around the corner. Just look at what a team of researchers at Chiba Institute of Technology (CIT) has developed: a very cool robotic vehicle that stands on two legs. Dubbed core [JP], it’s an impressive 1,915mm tall and weighs 230kg. → Read More
Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has done it again. After having developed one of the most advanced cybernetic human robots out there (namely the HRP-4C we covered previously), it is now time for the next humanoid. Meet the HRP-4 [JP]. → Read More
We first covered PALRO (Pal+Robot), a mini humanoid made by Tokyo-based Fujisoft, back in February, and it already received a number of upgrades. Most importantly, buyers can now download dedicated “apps” (dubbed “PAPPS” [JP]) that make the little guy more versatile. A special Twitter client, for example, makes sure PALRO reads out every tweet in your timeline out loud – in real time. → Read More
Iran isn’t exactly the first country that springs to mind when it comes to robotics, but the Center for Advanced Vehicles at the University of Tehran has developed a pretty advanced model. Dubbed Surena 2, the humanoid made quite a big splash even in non-tech-related media when it was first unveiled last month. → Read More
Kyoto-based Squse has developed the so-called Robot Hand H-Type [JP], a creepily realistic (but very cool) robotic hand. The hand’s “bones” are made of polycarbonate, while the skin is silicon rubber. It weighs 340g and can lift up and move objects weighing up to 1.5kg. The secret lies in its 16 joints and 22 actuators. → Read More
We’ve shown you a number of robots in the past that were able to pull off some serious moves, but Choromet 2 [JP] is particularly elegant – when he’s performing Yoga exercises, at least. Made by Japan-based robot venture General Robotix, the mini humanoid stands 53cm tall, weighs 5.8kg and comes with a total of 22 joints. → Read More
We reported about the plans last year and again just a few months ago, and now they are getting more concrete: Japan seems to be finally ready to send robots to explore the moon. An advisory panel launched by the Japanese government has spent one year preparing a report that proposes a lunar exploration program that will cost no less than $2.3 billion. → Read More
It’s no secret Japan is betting high on robots to tackle future health care problems in its rapidly graying society. But robots sitting in wheelchairs is an entirely new idea, as just demonstrated at ROBOTECH 2010 in Tokyo. → Read More
RoboCup 2010, a six-day event in Singapore during which robot geeks from around the world let their robots play soccer against each other, ended last week with a German triumph. In the final game, the Darmstadt Dribblers from the Technische Universität in Darmstadt beat the FUmanoids, a team of robots developed at Freie Universität in Berlin 7:1. → Read More
I’d say about 90% of all robotics-related news we cover on CrunchGear is from Japan, so getting to report about a new robot that’s actually made in the US is a nice change of pace. The little guy you see on the picture and in the video embedded below is called DARwIn-LC and was developed by the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (Romela) at Virginia Tech. → Read More
Germany has churned out the one or the other humanoid in recent months, but Myon might actually be the coolest deutsche robot out there. The little guy stands 125cm tall and weighs 15kg. He was designed by Cologne-based design studio frackenpohl poulheim [GER] and developed at Berlin’s Humboldt University as part of the European ALEAR (Artificial Language Evolution on Autonomous Robots) research… → Read More
Hitachi has recently shown a new version of its humanoid robot EMIEW2 (Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Workmate2), which can scoot around on broken ground (the robot handles bumps that are up to 1.5cm high), recognize and distinguish between different human voices and converse with people. → Read More
Tosy (warning: the site takes a long time to load), Vietnam’s first – and only – robot venture, has been flying under the radar since the debut of TOPIO, their table tennis-playing humanoid, in 2007. The company was established as early as 2002 and has been mainly manufacturing toy robots since. But it seems as if their first “life-sized” service robot, dubbed TOPIO Dio, is a pretty cool humanoid. → Read More
Remember M3-neony and M3-synchy, two humanoid robots from Japan we’ve shown you back in March? Well, it seems Japan still doesn’t have enough of creepy kid-like robots, as the so-called JST Erato Asada Project in Osaka today unveiled [JP] another two: M3-Kindy and Noby. → Read More
Building robots capable of playing soccer – that’s apparently very hard to pull off, as shown several times in the past. But this new robot, the RoboErectus Jr., is different. Developed at the Robotics Center of Singapore Polytechnic, he looks like he’s a little small, but his moves are pretty cool. → Read More
I had the chance to attend a TED event last weekend, namely the TedxTokyo conference, which took place for the second time in Japan. And as CrunchGear’s Japan correspondent, I was naturally most interested in the geekiest presentation delivered: that of Professor Sankai from Tsukuba University (near Tokyo). (The video was of the presentation was uploaded just a few hours ago, which is why I waited… → Read More
We all knew this day would come eventually, and that day was yesterday: a robot called I-Fairy conducted a wedding, an official one. Needless to say that the wedding took place in Tokyo and that the robotic wedding conductor is the brain child of a Japanese robot company called Kokoro. → Read More
Toyota has never been known as an auto maker that’s really active in the robotics area (as opposed to Honda, for example), at least when it comes to producing robots with high show value. There are two exceptions though: one is Winglet, the Segway-like robotic vehicle Toyota showed in 2008, and the other is a violin-playing humanoid that made its debut back in 2007. → Read More
Remember AILA, the “female” humanoid we’ve blogged about two weeks ago? It turns out that wasn’t the only fembot that has been in development in Germany in the last few years, as LOLA [GER], a humanoid presented by the Technical University of Munich and the Institute of Technology Autonomous Systems in Munich, shows. → Read More
The Robovie-R Ver.3, an advanced service humanoid jointly made by major Japanese robot maker Vstone and Japan’s Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR), has a lot going for it. The 120cm robot can understand and answer questions, he can serve as a guide for humans (he “walks” at about 2.5km/h), he’s cute, and he’s touch sensitive (through a total of eleven touch sensors). → Read More
It’s not only Japan, but Korea is developing advanced robots, too. Case in point: Mahru, the dancing humanoid, made by the Korea Institute of Science & Technology (KIST). And this robot is way more impressive than similar models we’ve seen before. → Read More
It seems not only Japan, but also Germany is capable of producing super-advanced humanoids. Case in point: AILA, a fembot [GER] developed at the Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz (DFKI/German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence).
AILA, in her current form, stands 170cm tall. There are 22 joints in her body, a 3D camera, two laser range finders, six wheels shes moves… → Read More
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