Of planet Earth’s estimated 1,240,000 operational industrial robots, about 230,000 were made in Japan and sold around the world by Yaskawa Motoman. Earlier this week, they opened their first overseas factory in China, which means that the Chinese are building robots for the Japanese in China to sell to China. It’s totally meta.
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The Robots: Those who like robots but live their lives outside of industrial robo-geekery probably know Yaskawa Motoman not by name, but by the YouTube footprint of various machines dealing cards, making food, playing golf, assembling stuff, stacking stuff, etc. The semi-humanoid SDA10F (sometimes called Dexter Bot), for example, might be familiar:
SDA10F “Dexter Bot” Dealing Cards at IMTS 2012
Yaskawa Motoman is the industrial robotics division of the nearly 100 year-old Yaskawa Electric Corporation, a global electronics and manufacturing firm based in Kitakyushu, Japan. Until now, all their robots have been produced right here on the archipelago, but just a few days ago they opened their first factory in China. The new facility in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province is reportedly now the world’s largest-capacity industrial robot factory. The manufacturing robots to be manufactured there will be used primarily to manufacture automobiles (welding, painting, and materials handling).
“So, will industrial robots be building industrial robots in this industrial robot factory?!”
Sure, a valid question that immediately pops up among the more… robo-enthusiastic, but for actual assembly and such, the answer appears to be no (left & middle below). However, below on the right, in a screen capture from NHK coverage of the announcement, an industrial robot is spray painting an industrial robot at the facility. Cool, but not exactly all Terminator Skynet robots-building-robots pre-apocalypse or anything.
The Big Why Might Be a Big Problem: Most of the Japanese & Chinese news outlets, the vast bulk of the coverage, included some kind of cursory statement about increasing labor costs in China being the Why of all this, but no one’s just come out and said “Hey, it’s like this: robots don’t complain about low wages, they don’t get hurt, don’t take breaks, they rarely commit suicide – you know, all that stuff those soft and sensitive mammals do. They might cost a lot in the beginning, but they’ll quickly pay for themselves.” Yeah of course, there’s a lot to gain from implementing robotic labor… for those who can buy it – not so much for those to be displaced.
But this isn’t new news – about two years back, Xin Hua News reported on Foxconn’s plans to further incorporate robotic labor into its massive force of 1.2 million humans. The big-picture intention was to increase the number of robotic “workers” from 10,000 then to 1,000,000 over three years. We’ll see what next year brings, but it’s clear that human labor has become a troubling cancer in the profit stream of the World’s Factory; a once inexhaustible, malleable, cheap Chinese labor force has become a bit adversarial and increasingly expensive. Captains of Chinese industry like Foxconn’s Terry Gou, having years ago foreseen as much, are now beginning to implement work-ready, eventually profit-positive, human rights-neutral, therefore preferable robotic labor.
And that’s why Yaskawa’s getting open armed into China.
For now it’s heavy labor, but realistically, are there really a whole lot of manufacturing jobs left that are doable by human hands alone? Baxter from Rethink Robotics and Nextage from Kawada Industries, as examples, offer proof that squishy five-fingered labor is far from a growth sector – and the technology isn’t exactly standing still.
Market economics, the capitalism, it’s what we humans do, and it seems to be best economic system we can realistically implement – or at the very least it’s the least of many possible evils. Time and time again, however, we’ve witnessed burgeoning, fast-growth market economies display ferocious ineptitude when it comes to self-regulation. In that vein, could a widespread, highly profitable in the short-term, relatively sudden transition to robo-labor destroy China’s economy? That’s a big negative. Could it give China’s economy a seizure? Maybe, maybe yeah.
And maybe China’s industrial leaders, faced with the most challengingly massive human labor pool on the planet, will take it slow and safe. But, slow and safe doesn’t buy yachts and islands, as the kids these days often say – so you gotta wonder: are Terry Gou and his peers silly and profit-drunk enough to roboticize the world’s second largest economy into bubble-esque recession? Could massive manufacturing layoffs even produce such an effect? Hard to say, but unless robots suddenly start getting less effective and more expensive, we will find out.
And you know, Japan, rather recently demoted to the world’s third largest economy, yet so very enthusiastically investing in robots for its largest trading partner’s labor market (Yaskawa’s not alone), probably wouldn’t mind moving back up.
Hey… ahhhhh, ohhhh, Yaskawa! Well played, well played.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
The first signs of trouble at Fukushima were quickly followed by expectations of an action-ready ASIMO leaping to the rescue. Honda’s humanoid remains far from able, but their new High-Access Survey Robot is on the job, and of some consolation: it’s got ASIMO parts.
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After more than two years of research and development, in collaboration with Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and with input and direction from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), Honda has finally made good on its commitment to assist with recovery and repair at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
High-Access Survey Robot is as High-Access Survey Robot Does “High-Access Survey” isn’t super creative in the naming department, but it really does nail what this technically two-piece robot is all about: 1. movement via tracked chassis with a variable-height platform allowing operators to peer into hard to see, difficult to access places up to 23ft/7m high (that’s AIST’s tech); 2. providing a comprehensive visual survey from the camera-equipped arm and automatic 3D mapping of the robot’s immediate location (thanks, ASIMO!); 3. a new control system that increases dexterity by allowing operators to manipulate several robotic joints at once (more ASIMO-tech); and 4. shock-resistant arms, e.g., within a reasonable range, the robot’s arms will remain steady and on-task even when other parts or the entire machine gets jostled around (that’s the big present from ASIMO, detailed below).
The robot’s advancements and benefits are pretty clear: AIST’s sturdy, low center of gravity, tracked base keeps things moving over potentially rough terrain, and when the arm platform is fully extended it’s probably the tallest stand-alone robot out there (at least among robots that actually like, you know, do stuff).
The first two gifts from ASIMO are visually subtle, but operationally quite significant. Performing extremely important jobs through a single camera lens is the status quo drudgery for current recovery & repair robotics, so this system’s 3D view of the robot’s surroundings combined with increased dexterity are welcome enhancements (presumably, a number of different tools could make their way onto the business end of Honda’s arm). The last gift from ASIMO, the gift of stability, well there’s a bit of history to all that, and we’ll get to it below – first, here’s how the job will be done:
So there you go – it’s certainly an achievement, and along with several other machines already at work or heading to Fukushima (see: Japan’s Robot Renaissance: Fukushima’s Silver Lining), Honda’s new robot is a unique and valuable contribution to the recovery & repair effort. Okay – great, happy day!
But wait… So, Honda’s very highly accomplished robotics division (our coverage: Honda Robots for the Home • Honda Robots You Wear) has spent two years at this? Even casual tech observers know that we’ve had durable, effective crawler robots with cameras and nimble, powerful arms for well over a decade (see: iRobot), and those with a slightly higher level of robo-geekery know Honda’s been working on bipedal humanoid robots for almost 30 years.
Honda’s résumé reasonably amplifies everyone’s expectations; as such, both when things went bad at Fukushima, and even NOW, it’s not unreasonable to wonder why they’ve reinvented the tracked robot wheel, so to speak, and why there are still no practical, deployable results from all the time, money, and brains put into ASIMO. Can’t that robot at least do… something!?
Presents from ASIMO: the Humanoid has Indeed Contributed ASIMO is often billed as the world’s most advanced humanoid robot (that’s recently become debatable), and it does have some autonomous capabilities, but what’s brought to the public eye is largely choreographed to a specific environment. The very robo-dorky among us knew it was entirely unreasonable to expect anything of ASIMO as a stand alone robot, but we did know that ASIMO is and has always been a research platform with wild potential. Honda, openly apologetic and conciliatory of its inability to immediately assist with Fukushima recovery & repair, got straight to work:
The self-steadying, self-balancing arm Honda engineers created, obviously, is the predecessor to the limb mounted on the new High-Access Survey Robot. So the work kinda paid off. The prototype provided design cues, inspiration, and data – and then was put away in Honda’s warehouse of lost robotic toys or whatever.
Or was it? Now, speculation is at best speculative, but what if maybe, maybe that arm isn’t on a shelf somewhere? What if, big if, but what if there’s also a body… and it’s not ASIMO?
Because Fool Honda Once, Shame on You… Naively, but with hope inspired by Honda’s technological achievements, the world called for ASIMO to help at Fukushima, but Honda could do nothing. Now, pressure is building from the very exciting, fueled by international competition for prizes and prestige, Fukushima-inspired DARPA Robotics Challenge (our coverage). And, looming off in the future is the possibility that Japan’s best robots might once again get upstaged by something from the U.S., or Korea, Poland, Germany, etc. That’s a lot of pressure, but it’s also a ton of motivation.
Honda engineers extracted a polished, self-steadying/balancing arm from ASIMO’s leg in 8 months. In the 18 since, would they really have only managed to attach some eyes and bolt it to a crawler with a really long neck?
Akihabara News’ robotics coverage will keep you hip to developments – and you’ll wanna stay tuned in – because unless Honda’s hoping to get fooled again, it’s both safe to assume they’ve remained busy, and safe to assume that the image below is more than just a rendering; it might be something awesome.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
The massive Tohoku earthquake that struck Japan on March 11, 2011 was a reminder of the seriousness of seismic activity in Japan. It can, and does, strike anywhere in the country, and in fact, many experts predict that the next big earthquake may hit in the middle of the east coast of the country, near Tokyo.
So, as one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, it should be no surprise that truly remarkable technologies have been developed and put to use, here in Japan, to protect people and assets from the effects of earthquakes.
Earthquake Countermeasure Technology
There are roughly 3 primary technologies employed to combat the effects of earthquakes, with many variations and combinations of these:
Resistance – Engineering a structure to improve the ability of pillars and beams to withstand seismic force – basically architecting structures to absorb the force of an earthquake.
Damping – A number of methods are employed here such as rubber fittings or “viscous dampers” under structures to help absorb the force of shocks.
Seismic Isolation – Here, systems are put in place between buildings and their foundations, eliminating direct transmission of earthquake shocks to buildings by compensating for the movement of the ground below, passing on literally little to no movement to buildings or mounted objects above.
Seismic Isolation
I had the good fortune of seeing, first-hand, a demonstration of Seismic Isolation technology recently at the 23rd FINETECH JAPAN convention at Tokyo Big Sight and I was absolutely impressed.
The demonstration was given by THK Co., Ltd. of Nishi-Gotanda, Tokyo. On display was their Seismic Isolation Table (Model TSD). It was a platform of about 1.5 square meters with a server rack on top of it. The plate under which the table was sitting was moving to simulate the magnitude of the Great Tohoku earthquake of March 11, 2011, in the area of the greatest shaking. The Isolation Table was absorbing virtually all of the movement below, illustrated by a bottle of water mounted on the table – there was virtually no sloshing of the water inside.
This isolation table showed how this technology is put to use to protect important delicate machinery, robots, server racks, computer systems, etc. It is also used by wine collectors to protect their collections and by art museums to protect priceless artwork.
THK Seismic Isolation Table
THK’s technology is also put to use in Seismic Isolation foundations for new buildings. The idea is the same, on a large scale. Whole buildings are isolated from the shaking below on a series of seismic isolation mounts. This technology is optimal for structures up to 10 stories high, and is effective, in conjunction with Damping Systems, in protecting high-rise buildings.
THK’s Seismic Isolation for buildings
Seismic Isolation – How it works
THK’s core expertise is using ball bearings to develop “Linear Motion Systems” – converting a mechanical component’s linear motion into a “rolling” motion, which greatly improves the fluidity and smoothness of movement.
They have developed high-precision rolling tracks, using ball bearings, in various combinations, to allow for motion in any lateral direction as dictated by an earthquake. Vertical motion is also compensated for as the table or foundation provides a solid base to be anchored to as motion continues. Once movement has ceased, the systems have springs that are used to restore original positioning.
THK’s technology is used under new buildings built in Japan and other seismically active areas. Based on the company’s ball bearing and high precision movement technology, building positioning literally compensates for various lateral and vertical movement of the ground, dramatically dampening the perceived movement and shaking caused by earthquakes and reducing potential damage.
A couple high profile examples of this technology in use:
The National Art Center, Tokyo
Aichi Prefectural Office, Nagoya
Current Use and Future Potential
Earthquake countermeasure technology is in use in modern construction in Japan, and the rule-of-thumb is generally that the newer the building, the more sophisticated the employed technology.
There is no doubt that this technology made a difference during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Sendai, the largest city in Tohoku, and quite close to the center of the earthquake had relatively little structural damage among its office and residential buildings.
Resistance and Damping technology are by far the most employed earthquake countermeasure technologies, however Seismic Isolation is gaining ground quickly after having proved itself as particularly effective in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.
Meanwhile, many areas of the world share the same fate as Japan, with disastrous earthquakes hitting recently in New Zealand, Italy, China, Chile, Iran, Indonesia – with more to come.
Seeing the amount of destruction around the world from earthquakes that are often of much lesser magnitude than those in Japan, I think that use of Japanese earthquake countermeasure technology could see an increase in the future around the world. This is an area of Japanese technology that should have a lot of future potential, but whether the market overseas can be properly developed remains to be seen.
Special thanks go to Toshio Saiki and Tomoko Kayaki of THK Co., Ltd. for assisting me with information and pictures as I assembled this story.
One could reasonably assume Japan’s impressive array of supertech humanoid robots would swarm the inspired-by-Fukushima DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), but Tokyo University spin-off SCHAFT Robotics is it. DARPA’s militariness and Japan’s Peace Constitution complicate. Oh, and way-overblown gee-whiz coverage of the DRC isn’t helping.
It wasn’t until weeks after the initial disaster that American firm iRobot’s PackBot and Warriorrobots were sent in to assess; it took months to get a homegrown Japanese robot in there. And that really stings, because we now know a great deal of the damage & pollution was avoidable – if only we could have closed or opened some valves, reconnected a hose, turned some knobs, etc.
Sure, iRobot’s machines were very helpful, and other vehicle-form robots could do a lot of good. Ultimately, however, emergency response experts reached consensus around the notion that, as the majority of humans don’t get around on tank tracks or wheels, when disaster strikes an environment designed for bipedal mammals what we really, really need to safely get in there and get things done is a capable, robotic facsimile.
Of course disaster breeds alarm, and Fukushima put humanoid robotics efforts into competitive overdrive; the silver lining reached all the way across the Pacific.
Hello, I’m the DARPA Robotics Challenge Okay, DARPA should either be commended or made fun of for sparing almost every expense on graphic design. You be the judge.
Getting to business, know that descriptions of the DRC tend to be either: dry detailed (boring), dorkily detailed (obtuse to laypeople), overly simple (missing the big deal), or the worst – sensationalistically fantastical (the sky is falling oh god oh god killer robots are coming to eat your babies). Hopefully some straightforward sanity to follow – here’s what’s needed to get reasonably hip:
• First Thing About the DRC – Motivator: Prior to the Tohoku Disaster, certainly Japan, notably the U.S., Korea, and Germany, and many other public and private robotics initiatives around the world were seriously considering the needs and feasibilities, but they were rather casually and quite slowly developing humanoid rescue & recovery robots (ex., prior to the DRC, the U.S. Navy had already begun work on the humanoid Shipboard Autonomous Fire-Fighting Robot (SAFFiR), but, you know, not in a big hurry). There was no specific focus among a broad range of creators, no essential motivation, and no potential for the big, public reward of success.
• Second Thing: A Basic, Bare-Bones DRC Description: The DRC is an unprecedented two-year contest with cash prizes (though the prestige is arguably worth a lot more) for teams who can make a humanoid robot capable of semi-autonomous disaster recon, rescue, recovery, and repair. If you don’t have your own robot but do have software than can represent, DARPA might give you a robot to prove it.
Ready, GO!
• Third Thing About the DRC – How to Win: What must be done to win those (relatively few) millions in cash, garner invaluable prestige, and quite likely secure years of lucrative and prestigious robotics contracts around the world? Quoting, the DARPA Robotics challenge aims to:
…invigorate efforts toward developing robots that can operate in rough terrain and austere conditions, using aids (vehicles and hand tools) commonly available in populated areas. Specifically, we want to prove that the following capabilities can be accomplished [by the robot]:
1. Compatibility with environments engineered for humans (even if they are degraded) 2. Ability to use a diverse assortment of tools engineered for humans (from screwdrivers to vehicles) 3. Ability to be supervised by humans who have had little to no robotics training.
…get humanoid robots to successfully demonstrate the following capabilities: 1. Drive a utility vehicle at the site. 2. Travel dismounted across rubble. 3. Remove debris blocking an entryway. 4. Open a door and enter a building. 5. Climb an industrial ladder and traverse an industrial walkway. 6. Use a tool to break through a concrete panel. 7. Locate and close a valve near a leaking pipe. 8. Replace a component such as a cooling pump.
…apply the DARPA Challenge model in order to: 1. Increase the speed of advancements in robotics 2. Grow international cooperation in the field of robotics 3. Attract new innovators to the field
…proceed along a very ambitious timeline: 1. June 2013: Virtual Robotics Challenge (software is running now!) 2. December 2013: DRC Challenge Trials (physical machines) 3. December 2014: DRC Challenge Finals (best of the best, software & machines)
Unquoting.
Among those of us with executive-level robo-dorky proclivities, the DRC is basically one of the most exciting events possible. But the idea of a supertech capitalist competition captures global curiosity and wonder even for those with only a passing interest in robotics.
So it’s underway, and a very international field, including a number of American teams, teams from Spain, Poland, the U.K., Korea, Israel, etc., are now locked in at full-speed. But, oddly, there’s only one team from Japan.* They’re in Track A, which means they’ve got their very own advanced robot and software. But just one team – a small one at that – seems a little… well, it’s Japan, not like it would require reinvention of the wheel: there’s the well-developed ASIMO** and the various HRP robots, as examples, and per the parameters outlined by DARPA, they’re already kinda more than halfway there.
What gives, Japan? Because, as is, this competition could accurately be named or subtitled something like “The What We Really Needed at Fukushima DARPA Robotics Challenge.” More on that in a minute, but first – about that one team:
Team SCHAFT, Tokyo: Three months ago, the rendering below was pretty much the only publicly available image of the DRC contestant from Tokyo University’s JSK robotics lab spin-off, SCHAFT Robotics:
Even DARPA is still using that image at the DRC homepage, and it doesn’t exactly inspire – there are plenty of teenagers who could render that in an afternoon.
But researchers formerly of a place like Tokyo University are not to be underestimated. Tokyo University is like having the academic disciplines of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and MIT rolled into a brain trust institution comprised of the highest-level human intelligence Japan has to offer. Not surprisingly, led by CEO Yuto Nakanishi, the small firm of young and ambitious roboticists have really, really brought SCHAFT to life:
There isn’t a whole lot of public info on SCHAFT, but what we do know is that it’s influenced by some 30 years of Tokyo University’s robotics experience, i.e., SCHAFT has a both a serious mechanical pedigree and some very fine-tuned software. Perhaps the the most widely reported feature of this robot is that, within a certain range of motion, it’s limbs can apply more force than a comparably sized human being (Sorry, there are no superstrong-in-general humanoid robotics out there. Yet.). One can get deeper historical details on the SCHAFT team and their university lab’s background, but the world definitely needs more contemporary information on this robot and the motivations of its creators. (Note to Author: You live in Japan, right? Umm, get thee to Tokyo?)
Here’s SCHAFT turning a valve a human can’t handle:
SCHAFT’s considerable advantage in physical strength is possible through a unique cooling system that prevents overheating in its nearly maxed-out electric motors (hence the strength). Another advantage, illustrated below in the image’s translated quote, is the team’s observably high levels of pure, enthusiastic robogeekery – this is a very good thing.
Team member inserting SCHAFT’s coolant; being robo-geeky on TV:
For SCHAFT in motion, the video below includes a brief feature from an NHK documentary on advancing robotics projects around the world. There are some good shots, but the doc is sprinkled with a lot of supposition, and some pretty glaring inaccuracies and generalizations are used to set up unfortunate leaps of logic and just, you know, misstatements. It’s either poorly researched, or very poorly translated, so consider it a nice visual presentation, but when it comes to facts & figures and specific details, definitely not verified or reliable reference material:
(for SCHAFT, jump to 25:25):
So, SCHAFT is cool, highly regarded among other contestants, and well on its way to a good showing at the December 2013 DRC trials. But it’s a curious thing that, with cash prizes and the invaluable prestige of doing well in a wholly unprecedented global robotics challenge, SCHAFT is the only Japanese name in the game. So again, what gives, Japan?
Well, the “D” in DARPA of course stands for Defense. As in United States Department of Defense. As in, humanity’s most massive and far reaching military force like… ever. By far. This doesn’t exactly sit well, and it butts up against a pervasive anti-war sentiment enshrined in modern Japan’s peaceful-by-law society (yep, by law).
The 1947 Postwar “Peace” Constitution: Not So Comfortable With Military-Funded Robots? Article 9 of Japan’s postwar national constitution is regarded as an explicit prohibition against state-sponsored/perpetrated offensive military activity. So, with a Japan not allowed to build offensive war machines, that has even run into trouble providing tertiary supply line support to allied forces abroad, building robots with cash from the U.S. military is… sticky.
While a point of debate and political grandstanding in Japan, the Peace Constitution has never been amended and it’s unlikely to be anytime soon. And so Japan can defend, but cannot offend, as it were. Obviously this doesn’t prevent private industry from developing machines that might one day make their way into military support roles, though that’s not exactly… approved of.
Japan isn’t the only country to question DARPA’s motivations and express concerns about the DRC leading to some seriously scary Terimator-like murderdeathkill-bots. Last fall, at a conference in Osaka, DARPA’s Gill Pratt responded:
“The DRC is about developing robots that I believe wholeheartedly are completely impractical for military purposes, for offensive military purposes. Will the technology that we come up with find its way into military systems, probably yes. But I guarantee you that if you work on a robot for healthcare, there’s a chance that technology will also find its way into military systems.”
Okay, Japan’s uneasy, but there appears to be a bit of cherry picking with this. After all, Mitsubishi long ago purchased the recipe for American F-15 fighter jets and manufactured them for the Jieitai, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. Or more subtly, the last two Sony PlayStation consoles probably have the graphics processing capability to guide cruise missiles.
So, maybe, perhaps, probably: it’s the visibility of a military-funded humanoid robotics project vis-à-vis palpable anti-war sentiment that permeates a massively parallel-thinking, group-oriented monoculture. In the form of Honda, robotics pioneers at Kawada Industries, the JSK lab at Tokyo University, AIST, METI, and other public and private robotics developers, Japan has to be aware of how its peaceful-by-law reputation might suffer if it helps build what could be construed as an offensive-capable humanoid warbot.
The final DRC contestants, and especially the winner, are going to be everywhere in the news, and, as is already happening, non tech-focused reporting outlets (and unscrupulous blowhardy loudmouths in general) are going to frantically excrete large quantities of disingenuous, irresponsible, SEO-bating headlines like:
“Formerly Aggressive Japan has a Killer Robot Soldier – Should We be Afraid?”
So, it’s complicated. And that’s where the story ends. There’s no red bow with which to tie this one off – it’s just complicated, man. Perhaps one will venture to Tokyo, nail down some more SCHAFT details, and discover the identity and motives behind the mysterious Japanese software-only “Team K.”
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Addendum on Weak Robotics Coverage, Media Hype, and Misinformation There are excellent sources of responsible robotics news out there on the intertubes: IEEE, Gizmag, The Verge, Robohub.org, The Robot Report, Anthrobotic.com, and the URL where you’re currently located. However, outside of Al-Jazeera English and occasionally the BBC, mainline robotics coverage, in the truest sense of the words, produces what is usually half-researched, half-suppositioned, half-assed sensationalism.
They’re far from being alone, but since they published this poster child for unfortunate journalism just a few days ago, today The Guardian gets the blaster: “Darpa Robotics Challenge: the search for the perfect robot soldier.” Karl, this is not good. Karl, is it only about pageviews for you? Karl, do you even want to share any meaningful info? Karl, how long have you been interning over there at the Guardian?
Maybe it can be dismissed as playful journalism, but there’s a huge glaring gigantic wall between playful and irresponsible. Smartassery and pointed, perhaps ironic hyperbole in tech coverage is very, very cool – if, IF it’s qualified and not allowed to fall in love with itself and become a self-sustaining fusion reaction of assclownery for its own sake.
Or, in Karl’s case, hyperbolic scare-mongering to get more views. It doesn’t inform. It doesn’t help. It retards progress and understanding and retards the possibility of developing an informed, nuanced point of view.
As the DARPA Robotics Challenge proceeds, shall we all stop that? KTHX.
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*According to the DRC website, there’s another Japanese Team in Track B (software only), but there is next to zero public information about the group known as “Team K,” and it’s unclear whether or not they’re like, you know, doing anything. (Note to author again: You live in Japan, right?)
**It should be noted that, while unwilling to toss a beefed-up ASIMO into the DRC, Honda is working on their answer to what the DRC will produce. We’ll follow up with some inside info on that later this summer. (Another note to author: Because you live in Japan, right?)
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
On June 8, 2013, the “AKB48 General Election” took place in Nissan Stadium in Yokohama, Japan. This was the 5th year of the election and was broadcast live for 4 hours on national TV. For the top 16 ranked girls, there is a spot to be part of the group’s upcoming 32nd single.
For those who do not know what “AKB48″ and the “AKB48 General Election” are, let me explain a bit about them…
AKB48 is currently the most popular girl idol group in Japan. It’s named after Akihabara, famous for a subculture of techie stuff, manga, idols, anime and gaming – the center of Otaku Japan. AKB48 have their own theater and even after they started to appear on media a lot, popular members still perform in the small theater. For this reason, people call them “idols you can meet”. AKB48 consists of nearly 100 girls and they also have sister groups in other cities in Japan and even outside of Japan. Below are the current sister groups of AKB48:
SKE48 – Sakae, Aichi prefecture NMB48 – Namba, Osaka prefecture HKT48 – Hakata, Fukuoka prefecture JKT48 – Jakarta, Indonesia SNH48 – Shanghai, China TPE48 – Taipei, Taiwan
So, this weekend’s “AKB48 General Election” was for their fans to decide the top 16 girls who will make up the ensemble that will sing the group’s 32nd single. The name of the single has yet to be announced (and probably is still being written) – the reason for this is that the single will be made and tailored to fit the singing and dancing skills (or lack of skills…) of the group of 16 girls.
So who was voting this weekend? AKB48 fans could acquire the right to vote by buying the latest AKB48 single or registering/buying related services. Once they have the right to vote, each AKB48 otaku can support their “Oshimen” (the girl who you give your support to).
Getting the most votes and securing a top ranking is extremely important for AKB48 members and their fans, because the higher a girl’s ranking, the more media exposure she will receive. The girls in the top 16 will get by far the most TV time and the #1 ranked girl will always be at the center of the group.
So it is so important for fans that their “oshimen” get a high ranking – because they will be able to see more of her cute smile on TV and promotional events for the next year – and a lot of attention is given each year to see which girls will be most popular and who will get the #1 spot.
And so, the pundits discussed the chances of each of the girls, the favorites were analyzed, fond memories from past singles and past AKB events were discussed, and the results were revealed.
When the results of the election came in, the winner was a surprise! It was Rino Sashihara, 20, who got 150,570 votes, winning first place over many other popular girls including perennial favorite, Yuko Oshima, 24, the previous #1, who has had unshakable popularity and who had competed for the top of the group with former #1, Atsuko Maeda, 21, who left the group last year.
Rino Sashihara had been ranked #9 last year, but her ascendency to #1 was a big surprise because she had been transferred to sister group, HKT48, during a scandal last year amid revelations that she had an ex-boyfriend. AKB48 members are prohibited to have boyfriends, but because this was something that happened in the past, she was able to remain popular with her fans.
Another surprise happened that night, when one of the original AKB members, Mariko Shinoda, 27, who finished with a #5 ranking, revealed that she will leave AKB48 for good after receiving her ranking.
Something else that the election showed was that AKB48 is currently in a transition of popularity to the next generation of younger members.
AKB48 sells a considerable number of CDs and goods in an age when CDs don’t sell so some say that their popularity affects the economy of Japan…
The announcement of the #1 ranking for Rino Sashihara on live national TV…
Honda’s Walking Assist with Stride Management: Coming to a Hospital Near You! If, that is, you’re connected to one of 50 Japanese medical institutions now testing and evaluating a pair of the semi-robotic exoskeletal assistive devices. Honda breaks down the what’s-it-do-and-how as follows:
“The [Walking Assist Device’s] control computer activates motors based on information obtained from hip angle sensors while walking to improve the symmetry of the timing of each leg lifting from the ground and extending forward, and to promote a longer stride for an easier walk.”
Honda’s worked closely with several medical institutions throughout development of the Walking Assist Device, but last week’s announcement of the 100-unit roll-out signals what is effectively their flagship field testing effort; a medical trial to collect feedback and evaluations from professionals and patients, and data from the devices themselves, of course. But it’s much sexier than your average medical trial. Because robots. Obviously.
Each rehabilitation and/or physical therapy-focused recipient medical facility gets one medium- and one large-sized device. Details on the cost and duration of the leases haven’t been disclosed, but we do have the following specs:
If successful, the devices will very likely see wider domestic trials, possibly moving beyond rehabilitation and making their way into the homes of Japan’s rapidly aging population. In addition to recovery, the Walking Assist Device could provide just the boost needed for walking to the grocery store, visiting a friend or family member, a healthy stroll around the shopping center, or, for Japan’s endangered farming population, 50% of whom are within 5-10 years of retirement, another trip out to the field.
Given sufficient demand, and should they be cheap enough to produce, the Walking Assist Devices could perhaps be enlarged for populations a bit more… uhhh, let’s be nice and say “a bit more robust.” Among other developed nations, the U.S. also has a growing population of retirees who’d definitely appreciate the extra spring in their step. But Honda, remember, you’re going to need some bigger springs. Sorry about that. It’s a problem. Sorry.
Honda’s Ongoing Assistive Robotics Commitment – Respect Due: While Honda began specific work on walking-assist devices in 1999, the devices weren’t widely public until 2009. Differences between the current and early iterations are visible in the main image above: on the right and left are the earlier, bulkier, more metallic devices – the middle image, included in last week’s press release, shows the sleeker, current model (the middle image has actually been out in the wild for at least a year, so one assumes the 50 medium and 50 large devices now shipping are the same, possibly with some under-the-hood upgrades and/or modifications).
Unless you’re of a certain level of robo-dorkiness, you might not know that Honda’s actually been pounding away on bipedal humanoid robotics tech since the mid-1980s. You might be unaware of their proactive efforts toward addressing Japan’s aging population crisis through assistive robotics (Akihabara News coverage). And, you could have missed news that Honda’s pursuing a robotics-in-the-home partnership with Sekisui House (even more Akihabara News coverage!).*
Cars, ATVs, a lawnmower perhaps, maybe a sprinkling of ASIMO – that’s the standard mental image of Honda.
Consider upgrading?
*If you read Akihabara News you’ll know about ALL THAT STUFF! ….just sayin.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Welcome to Touchable TV! In addition to showcasing their 8K, 7680×4320, Ultra-High-Def (Ridiculous-Def?) TV broadcasting kit last weekend, Japan’s NHK also demoed a haptic feedback device that simulates virtual 3D objects in real time. And the thing is, it’s really just a robot that, when you touch it, kinda touches you back.
NHK (Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is a public media organization somewhat analogous to the American PBS. However, entirely not at all like its American counterpart, the J-broadcaster’s got this: NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories. Which is nice, because in cooperation with various corporate partners, NHK seriously delivers the tech.
Okay fine… so where’s the robot?
Haptic Virtual Reality that’s Actually Virtual – Just Put Your Finger in This Robotic Thingy! In the image above, a brave test pilot is placing his index finger into the locus of a five-point artificial haptic feedback environment. Based on the analysis & modeling of a virtual 3D object that in turn informs the movements and relative resistances among five robotic arms controlling the five feedback points, a focused area of stimuli/response is generated. Sounds complicated to explain “robotic, artificial sense of touch” that way, but conceptually the idea is quite simple:
#1. Put your finger in here and strap on the velcro:
#2. It’ll feel like you’re touching something that doesn’t physically exist, like Domo-kun (Dōmo-koon) here:
Each of those shiny round points is the terminus of a robotic arm that either gives way or holds steady based on the relative position of the finger to the contours of the object being simulated. Each point’s position-resistance refreshes every 1/1000th of a second. Not bad.
For practical, full-immersion VR to exist (in a physical sense; that is, before VR becomes a direct neural interface a la The Matrix), for now and for a while our low-to-medium-resolution interactive haptic feedback interfaces will be intrinsically robotic. And for virtualizing entirely digital, non-real artifacts, NHK’s device is a step in that direction.
Of course five points of interactivity might not sound like much, but mindful of the generally leapfroggy nature of technological advancement, effectively replicating and surpassing the haptic resolution we now experience via the estimated 2,500 nerve receptors/cm² in the human hand doesn’t seem too tall an order.
If that does seem too tall, if that does sound too far out and overly optimistic, if it seems impossible that we’d ever be able to cram 2,500 sensory & feedback robots into a square centimeter – well, then your robo-dorkery score is low and you need to pay more attention. Because dude, we’re already building nanorobots atom-by-atom. Not an “if” question, this one.
Neat… But Anything Really New Here? Of course, a wide variety of teleoperated force-feedback systems are either already in use or in-development (the da Vinci Surgical System; NASA’s Robonaut 2; etc.), so it’s important to emphasize here that NHK’s device is novel for a very particular reason: Maybe all, or nearly all, of the force-feedback haptic systems currently in use or development are based on an ultimately analog physicality. That is to say, whether it’s repairing a heart valve from another room, or, from a NASA building in Texas, tele-pushing a big shiny button on the International Space Station – what’s being touched from afar ultimately is a physical object.
So, what we might consider contemporary practical VR is more accurately a kind of partial VR. As the sense of touch is essential to our experience as human beings, incorporating that sense is a step toward interactive, actual factual, truly virtual virtual reality. Modeling and providing haptic feedback for non-physical objects, i.e., things that don’t really exist, in concert with other virtualization technologies – that’s a big step.
So What Can/Does/Will it Do? NHK is kind of talking up the benefits for the visually impaired – which is good and noble and whatnot – but perhaps focusing on that is a bit of a PR move, because at least in theory this technology could go way, way beyond simple sensory replacement/enhancement.
An advanced version, incorporating the virtual touching of both simulated and/or real objects, could add layers of utility and interactivity to almost any form of work, entertainment, shopping… from afar we might discern how hard it is to turn a valve in an accident zone (partial VR), how bed sheets of various thread count feel against the skin (partial or full VR), the rough surface of the wall one hides behind in a videogame (proper VR), or even pettting the dog, or petting… ummm, a friend (partial and/or proper VR – chose your own adventure)!
That’s a ways off, but in the short-to-near-term, here’s how NHK envisions functionality for their touchable TV tech:
Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Full-Immersion Omni-Sensory VR System! Okay, so to get this ball rolling: NHK, meet VR upstart Oculus Rift. NHK & Oculus Rift, meet VR/AR mashup Eidos. NHK, Oculus Rift, and Eidos, meet UC Berkely’s laser-activated pseudo-robotic hydrogels.
We’re all waiting for your pre-holodeck lovechild.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
While riding her bike on Sunday, May 19th, at approximately 3:30pm, highly accomplished and well-regarded robotics researcher Dr. Kanako Miura was struck by a large truck near Charlesgate Park in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Miura, 36, died at the scene. Official reports conclude that it was simply a terrible accident on a busy road.
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A guest of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Dr. Miura arrived last October for what was planned to be year of research at the world-class MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). She had been invited to share her pioneering work on improving the understanding of human bipedal locomotion and applying that practical knowledge to advanced humanoids, i.e., Dr. Miura made robots that walk like us.
“She was really part of the fabric of our group. She was not just a visitor in our group, she became a close friend and a member of our family. The energy she brought to her work was contagious, and her enthusiasm was easy to see. She loved giving tours, and showing off the lab, and she had an unfailing optimism in the future and importance of humanoid robots.”
-Professor Russ Tedrake, Director; Center for Robotics, CSAIL
Dr. Miura held a B.E. in Aerospace Engineering and an M.E. and Ph.D. in Information Science from prestigious Tohoku University. She also earned an additional Ph.D. in Electronics and Automation from equally renowned Université Louis-Pasteur in 2004. Such certifications alone evidence a formidable intellect; factoring in the linguistic challenges between Japanese, French, and English – well, that pushes the dial up a bit further.
The considerable expertise Dr. Miura brought to MIT arose from post-doctoral research at Tohoku University, a subsequent research position with communications giant NTT Docomo, and her eventual ascent to senior researcher at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in the Intelligent Systems Research Institute’s Humanoid Robotics Department.
While at AIST, Dr. Miura worked on the world-famous HRP-4C Future Dreamrobot (nicknamed “Miim,” from the Japanese). You might not know the name, but chances are you’ve seen photos or video of the agile and strikingly human robot:
HRP-4C has also “met” with the highest levels of foreign government:
With the above robot as the platform and Dr. Miura as the lead researcher, the AIST team made several valuable and distinct contributions to mobility and agility in humanoid robotics. The video below, for example, demonstrates the “slip turn” motion. “Slip turn” is very human-like movement that allows a biped to rapidly change direction with minimal change in body orientation. How is this an advancement? Well, think about the baby steps a robot like ASIMO has to take when changing direction, as opposed to this:
Another project led by Dr. Miura was the development of a more human-like gait for bipedal robots. When we walk, movement in the pelvis precipitates and works in conjunction with movement in the knees. A natural human step ends with the back foot balancing and pushing off the toe, and this leads to the standard leg-swing motion of the human stride. Here’s that recreated in robot form – and again, sorry ASIMO, but your flat-footed shuffling must yield:
Dr. Miura also led a project that would allow a robot to mimic human movement based on motion capture technology.
After contributing so much to her field, in addition to eventually being courted for the year of study and collaboration at MIT, she was also recognized here at home with the 2010 AIST President Award:
Such is the noble reality of robotics research. No single person can crank out a perfect human facsimile, and there are no Tony Starks – there are researchers like Dr. Miura, diligently working through small but profound iterations and laying the foundation for generations of robotics research to follow.
Unfortunately, no one at Akihabara Newsor Anthrobotic.com knew or had ever met Dr. Miura. However, through the words of Professor Tedrake and other public and private discussions, it is easy to appreciate that she was not only a brilliant and motivated scholar, but also a warm and engaging person. How we wish to have had the pleasure of interacting with such a comprehensive intellect.
Though something small, we hope it a fitting memorial to share her work here. That awareness of her contributions might inspire others toward learning about robotics, engineering, or science of any kind, is a fitting legacy.
Seems safe to assume she’d agree.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Let’s Visit Tokyo! We bring you to Yoyogi Park on a sunny weekend afternoon in March, 2013.
We saw a passionate artist, jump rope practice, a talented dog and other characters…
This is from about 2 months ago, but we have a lot more video that we have taken and we will finally be getting the series on a regular schedule going forward…
Google Glass fever and upstart Meta’s rapidly financed US $100,000 Kickstarter campaign indicate #1. impending altered reality market maturity, or #2. everything new remixes the old, but still the geeks sing “Ohhhhh look, shiny!”
Google Glass: Loudest Voice in the Room In development for several years and announced way back when, Glass finally got to developers and the geek elite about two months ago (for US $1500, plus getting oneself to a mandatory orientation meeting thingy). Glass is a kind of hybrid between a head-mounted display and augmented reality (AR) prosthetic outfitted with the internets. Really, if you’re reading Akihabara News you’re probably already hip, but if not there’s a search engine very ready to help you. Big G overlord Eric Schmidt indicated last month that a consumer-ready Glass product is about a year away. Realistically, at this point it’s unclear whether Glass is expected to be a viable consumer product or more of a proof-of-concept development platform.
Meta: Quickly Kickstarted, High-Profile Team Assembled – Working Man’s AR? If you saw last year’s sci-fi short film “Sight” or the YouTube sci-fi series “H+,” you’re already hip to what Columbia University’s Meron Gribitz & pals are aiming for with Meta. While Glass is more of a HUD with some AR, Meta is less with the acronyms and more what the name suggests: information about information, i.e., Meta hopes to overlay manipulatable imagery/data on the physical world, augmenting real reality and projecting virtual reality (VR) artifacts that you can fiddle with in real time.
For now, Meta has a slick video, a prototype, a crack team of engineers and advisors including professor Steven Feiner and wearable computing advocate guy, Steve Mann, and financing to get their dev kit into dev’s hands. To its credit, Meta does seem to aim less at generalized gee-whiz gimmickry and heads-up automated narcissism, and more toward the getting actual work done.
Asian Alternatives: First: POPSCI, very well done. The image on the above left melts one’s technosnarky heart.
In typical form, China has assimilated and excreted: the Baidu Eye is their Glass clone. There’s no indication of plans to bring it to market, so maybe they just wanted to say “Ha, ha, we can, too!” Or maybe they just wanted to do research and ride the Glass hype, which is understandable. But China, dude – might wanna think about doing some original stuff someday soon. That lack of intellectual capital is going to sting when “Designed in California” meets “Made in the U.S.A. With My 3D Printer.”
Over here in Japan we’ve got startup Telepathy One pushing a Glass-looking, but as they openly declare, not Glass-like AR headset (above-right). While technology writers rhetorically speculating as much in a headline makes for good Search Engine Optimization (other adjectives include: disingenuous, blithe, lame), rather than compete with Glass, Telepathy One is focusing on social networking & multimedia – but they too are clearly attempting to catch the contemporary current of AR hype – which is understandable. And hey, even if Telepathy One flashes and disappears, that fact that the phrase “Japanese Startup” can be used without the usual preface of “Why Aren’t There Any…” is a positive thing.
Okay Then, It’s Almost Doable – But Still… Indeed, the apps, core software, computational capability, and the ubiquitous-enough network connectivity essential for decent AR are quickly ramping up. Along with innovative concepts like the AR/VR mashup Eidos Masks, alternatives to and more advanced versions of the above devices will likely continue to crop up. In fact, the never-even-close-to-being-vaguely-realized promises of VR are also showing signs of decreased morbidity. So…
We Actually Want It vs. They Want Us to Want It Glass, the engine of the current VR hype machine, is of course conceptually nothing new, but it has the word “Google” in the name, so people are paying attention. Of course even Google gets ahead of itself from time to time (Buzz? Wave?), but lucky for them selling ads pays well, and they’ve got a boatload of cash to pour into whatever sounds cool. Millions have benefited from Google’s side projects and non-traditional ventures (Gmail much?), but the expectations leveled on Glass are… perhaps a bit much. Suffice it to say, Google absolutely nails search and software and web apps, but thus far big-G’s hardware projects have but limped.
But if we’ve got the cash, that probably won’t stop us! The soft tyranny of the tech elite is the ability to ring a shiny bell and then watch the doggies line up to pay. Luckily, actually useless products, products produced with too much hype, products produced with too much variety, products out of touch with the people who ultimately finance their creation – no matter how awesome they seem at first blush – they will fail. Hard. (Note: Sony, if you’re here, please reread the last sentence!).
Until AR & VR technologies can out-convenience a smartphone, shrink into a contact lens, dispense with voice controls and the confusing non-verbal communication of fiddling with a touchscreen on your temple, i.e., until such devices can move beyond relatively impractical novelty, it’s unlikely they’ll amount to much more than narrowly focused research and demonstration platforms.
This is to say, along with inventing Google Glass, the search giant might also want to invent something for us to like, you know, do with it. Or maybe that’s not fair – so to be fair, one can concede that no new technology is perfect at 1.0, and any awesome innovation has to start somewhere…
Maybe it could start in 1995. Ask Nintendo about that.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Props to io9 and Meta’s Kickstarter and Meta (but come on guys, tame that website – autoplay is really annoying). PopSci article/image; Watch the augmented reality-themed “Sight” and “H+” by clicking on those words.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
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