Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft has unveiled the Xbox One, which the company is hoping will be the system in the center of all home entertainment for people everywhere.

It was unveiled in Redmond with a full press release distributed by the company. Here in Japan, we also received a Japanese version of the official company press release, and we are looking forward to the chance to get a closer look soon.

It combines gaming, viewing, sports, online functionality, photos, videos, etc., and is an aggressive roll-out by Microsoft in an area where many competitors are trying to gain dominance – being the control console for all household entertainment and digital activity.

Official Press Release:

REDMOND, Wash. — May 21, 2013 — A new vision for the future comes to life today as Microsoft Corp. unveils Xbox One , the all-in-one gaming and entertainment system created for today and the next generation. At Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash., the company showcased how Xbox One puts you at the center of all your games, TV, movies, music, sports and Skype.

“Xbox One is designed to deliver a whole new generation of blockbuster games, television and entertainment in a powerful, all-in-one device,” said Don Mattrick, president, Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “Our unique, modern architecture brings simplicity to the living room and, for the first time ever, the ability to instantly switch across your games and entertainment.”

Introducing Xbox One

With Xbox One, games push the boundaries of realism, and TV obeys your commands.[1] Say “Xbox On” to launch your personalized Xbox One Home screen, discover what is popular on TV or see friends’ latest gaming achievements all using the most natural interface — your voice. The more you interact with Xbox One, the more it gets to know you and learns what you like. Some of the breakthrough Xbox One features that put you at the center of your living room entertainment include the following:

• TV on Xbox One.[1] Navigate and watch live TV from your cable, telco or satellite set-top box through your Xbox One. Microsoft is committed to bringing live TV through various solutions to all the markets where Xbox One will be available.[3]

• Home. Turn on your entertainment system with two powerful words, “Xbox On,” and a custom-tailored Home dashboard welcomes you with your favorite games, TV and entertainment.

• Snap. Do two things at once on the biggest screen in your home. Use Snap to jump into a multiplayer battle while watching your favorite movie, talk with friends on Skype while watching live TV, or track your fantasy team on TV as you watch the big game and more.

• Skype for Xbox One. Specially designed for Xbox One, talk with friends on your TV in stunning HD, or for the first time ever, hold group Skype calls on your TV.

• Trending.[1] Stay on top of what is hot on TV by discovering the entertainment that is popular among your friends, and see what is trending within the Xbox community.

• OneGuide.[1], [2] Find your favorite entertainment easily, searching by network or name, all with the sound of your voice and presented in a tailored program guide.

To create the most advanced Xbox system ever designed for games, TV and entertainment, Microsoft created a state-of-the-art gaming operating system and fused it with an equally amazing entertainment platform, so you will not have to switch inputs to watch TV or play a game. An eight-core, x86 processor and more than 5 billion transistors helps make lag and load times a thing of the past, so you can instantly jump between a game and your entertainment at lightning speed or run a host of apps right alongside your game with no loss in performance.Introducing Xbox One titles and exclusives

Gaming on Xbox One immerses gamers in cinematic worlds that look like real life, with characters that feel more human than ever before. AAA blockbuster titles unveiled for Xbox One include the following:

• “Forza Motorsport 5” from Turn 10 Studios is the latest edition of the highest-rated racing franchise of the past 10 years.[3] Built from the ground up to take advantage of Xbox One and the infinite power of the cloud, no game better delivers the sensation of being behind the wheel. “Forza Motorsport 5” sets a new bar for racing games and will be available exclusively for Xbox One at launch.

• “Call of Duty: Ghosts” is the next generation of “Call of Duty” and a stunning leap forward for the franchise. It delivers an all-new world, an all-new cast of characters and an all-new story, built on a new, next-generation engine. The next-generation technical innovations built to support the incredible gameplay advancements make this the most beautiful and immersive “Call of Duty” experience yet. Activision and Microsoft also announced the renewal of their close partnership that will see both the return of the “Call of Duty® Championship,” presented by Xbox, as well as all-new downloadable content debuting first and exclusively on the Xbox platform.

• “FIFA 14,” “Madden NFL 25,” “NBA LIVE 14,” and “EA SPORTS UFC” from EA SPORTS will change the way consumers experience and play sports games. Driven by the new EA SPORTS Ignite engine, these new EA SPORTS games will deliver massive innovations in human intelligence, true player motion and living worlds. Adding to its commitment to Xbox One, EA SPORTS also announced the promise of exclusive content to be revealed in the coming months.

• “Quantum Break” from Remedy Entertainment is a revolutionary entertainment experience from the creators of “Max Payne” and “Alan Wake” that blurs the line between gaming and TV by integrating drama and gameplay into one seamless, uniquely immersive experience. How you play the game impacts the show, and the show informs how you play the game.

In addition to the amazing lineup of games coming to Xbox One, Microsoft unveiled exclusive content partnerships with some of the top names in TV, sports and entertainment.

• “Halo” television series. Award-winning filmmaker, director and producer, Steven Spielberg will executive-produce an original “Halo” live-action television series with exclusive interactive Xbox One content, created in partnership with 343 Industries and Xbox Entertainment Studios.

• National Football League (NFL).[1] A multiyear, landmark partnership will deliver the ultimate interactive NFL television experiences for the next-generation Xbox One and leverage Microsoft devices and services to evolve both in-game and on the sideline. The NFL on Xbox will redefine broadcast experiences through innovations around Skype, Xbox SmartGlass and player-worn technology; add an all-new fantasy football solution for the biggest screen in the house; and create a personalized NFL destination only available on Xbox One.

Introducing a new generation of Xbox Live

Xbox One is built to amplify an all-new generation of Xbox Live that is more powerful, more personal and more intelligent. Unleashing the virtually unlimited power of the cloud makes everything more convenient and accessible, from allowing games to be installed in segments so that gameplay can start quickly to updates downloading in the background. Save and store your personalized profile, games and entertainment in the cloud to access them anytime, from any Xbox One console.[4] In addition, existing Xbox Live Gold Membership for Xbox 360 will seamlessly carry over to Xbox One.[5] Xbox Live takes you deeper into the games you love with all-new features.

• Smart Match. A new Smart Match matchmaking system virtually eliminates waiting in lobbies by estimating wait times and finding people you want to play with while you are enjoying other activities — reputation fundamentally matters and helps find best matches.

• Game DVR. A dedicated Game DVR captures and accesses your magic moments, all saved to the cloud. Along with sharing tools, you will have the most amazing bragging rights with Xbox Live.

• Living Games.[6] Dynamic, living worlds evolve and improve the more you play, and advanced artificial intelligence can learn to play like you, so friends can play against your shadow.

• Expanded achievements. A new and expanded achievements system captures video of your epic moments, continues to grow a game’s achievements over time and rewards you in new ways, and your Gamerscore carries over from Xbox 360.

• Xbox SmartGlass.[6] Xbox SmartGlass is natively part of the Xbox One platform, built in from the beginning with the ability to quickly render content directly onto your device, and now more devices can connect at one time for multiplayer and shared entertainment.

Introducing the Xbox One look and feel

New Xbox One hardware is sleek and modern and complements any décor. The console is shaped in the 16:9 aspect ratio and employs a horizontal orientation optimized for its high-speed Blu-ray™ disc player. It is molded in a deep and rich liquid black color and includes a distinctive beveled edge.

The completely redesigned, revolutionary 1080p Kinect is more precise, more responsive and more intuitive. Its unparalleled vision, motion and voice technology let you reach into games and entertainment like never before by dramatically expanding its field of view and fidelity. It works in nearly any lighting condition, recognizes precise motion control from a slight wrist rotation, and distinguishes your voice even in a noisy room using advanced noise isolation.

The class-leading Xbox controller is refreshed with more than 40 technical and design innovations. Updated directional pad, thumb stick and ergonomic fit immerse all gamers in ways that are uniquely Xbox, and precision and control have been dramatically increased with all new vibrating impulse triggers.[6] The Xbox One Wireless Controller is designed to work in concert with the new Kinect, allowing the two to be paired automatically to create seamless player syncing.

Xbox One will launch in markets around the world later this year. Visit the new Xbox Wire blog at http://news.xbox.com for in-depth features on the new system, including photos and videos from the unveiling event and new and rotating content from Xbox. More details about Xbox One and blockbuster games will be explored at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June.

About Xbox

Xbox is Microsoft’s premier entertainment brand for the TV, phone, PC and tablet. In living rooms or on the go, Xbox is home to the best and broadest games, as well as one of the world’s largest libraries of movies, TV, music, and sports. Your favorite games, TV and entertainment come to life in new ways through the power of Kinect, Xbox SmartGlass, and Xbox Live, the world’s premier social entertainment network. More information about Xbox can be found online at http://www.xbox.com.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Features and requirements are under development and may change prior to release. Available features and content may vary by country. Broadband Internet (ISP fees apply) and advanced TV hardware required. Games and media content sold separately. Xbox Live Gold Membership, paid subscription and other requirements apply for some Xbox Live features.

1 Live TV with Kinect navigation, Live TV with OneGuide, Trending, and NFL on Xbox available in U.S. at launch; anticipating global scale over time.

2 Kinect voice functionality only available in supported locales and languages.

3 At launch, Live TV will require a supported receiver device with HDMI output (sold separately).

4 Subject to geographical content restrictions.

5 Some Xbox Live content and features available on Xbox 360, including avatar content and some apps, are not available with Xbox Live on Xbox One.

6 In supported games.

2013’s Top 4 Robot Short Films
Japan’s yearly Golden Week, a 10-day stretch of spring garnished with national holidays, tends to shut down almost every industry save tourism & travel. Of course this includes J-robotics movers and shakers, so in this week’s feature we’re going straight-up international fiction and presenting 2013’s best robot-related short flicks to date.

This narrow window of but 4 months gives us a nice, fresh selection, but there’s definitely a huge pile of noteworthy pre-2013 robo-centric shorts out there. It’s difficult for any lone robotics geek to keep a handle on them all, so if you’ve got a favorite you’d like to introduce please let us and other readers know in the comments below.

We’ll get back to Japanese robot sci- next week, but today it’s all -fi. So, go ahead and downshift your thinking cap and enjoy these fine British, German, Malaysian, and Honk Kongian offerings:

The Film: ABE (8m:22sec – Live Action/CGI Hybrid)
Writer/Director: Rob McLellan; England

Chosen Because: Looks great; Explores pitfalls of narcissistic amoral robot self-awareness.
What’s Going on Here: Death by robot. Semi-Inverted Love Allegory vis-a-vis Homicide.
Quote from the Robot: “Maybe this time, I will get it right. Maybe this time, I will fix you.”

ABE is not exactly light viewing. Be warned that it’s morbid and disturbing… but, it will be so mostly in your own head. Which is part of the hook. The blood & guts are only implied, and aside from a few obscured b-roll shots here and an occasional stain there, the viewer’s imagination is what renders the robot-perpetrated gore.

The Film: R’ha (6m:26sec – CGI/Animation)
Writer/Director: Kaleb Lechowski; Germany

Chosen Because: Behold the power of one motivated animator with some sexy software. Plus, AI robots and aliens.
What’s Going on Here: AI/Robot Military Runs Amok on what Appears to be the Evolutionary Eventuality of Sharks.
Quote from the Robot: “Insanity is a neurologic dysfunction. I don’t suffer such weaknesses.”

R’ha gets straight to business with a biological captive, a robotic interrogator, and some backstory on the apocalyptic shenanigans of warbots gone all kinds of murderously self-deterministic on their creators. The content is clearly formulaic, but R’ha is likely more of open-letter resume than exercise in storycraft. That one 22 year-old student wrote, directed, and animated the whole thing just might show proof of concept.

The Film: Changing Batteries (5m:33sec – CGI/Animation)
Creators: Shu Gi, Casandra Ng, Hon JiaHui and Bahareh Darvish; Malaysia

Chosen Because: Lightly explores a possible/likely scenario. Very effective non-verbal communication. Robot.
What’s Going on Here: Isolation; Bonding with Machines; Mortality and Immortality.
Quote from the Robot: N/A – All non-verbal communication here, but expressed well.

After exploring robo-insanity and robo-revolution, the melancholy Changing Batteries actually lightens the mood a bit. While predictable and rather saccharine, it kinda does explore tolerance, acceptance, and bonding with the “other,” in this case embodied by grandma’s little robot helper. Slightly cheese coated, but still a touching, well worth the watch, and well-made final project by a team of 3D animation students – and probably the most relevant to reality of the lot (aging societies will need robots!).

The Film: Modin (2m:50sec – CGI/Animation)
Creators: Lam Ho Tak & Ng Kai Chung Tommy; Hong Kong

Chosen Because: Very good animation, very good music. Slo-mo robots.
What’s Going on Here: Scathing commentary on resource depletion. Or, just two robots fighting over a found battery.
Quote from the Robot: N/A – But lots of mechanical grunting.

Wrapping the top four, Modin is a brief, playful showdown between two equally matched and equally drained robots who perchance across a battery in the barren wasteland they roam. Can they just share, or will it be M.A.D.?

Thanks for Watching!
Remember, if you’d like to get us or other readers hip to an older robot short or one from 2013 that we might have missed, let us know down below.

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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.

Vimeo Movie Links: ABE – R’Ha – Changing Batteries – Modin

Have you heard of the robot maker species that doesn’t need a grand research goal, isn’t motivated by government competitions or corporate interests, and doesn’t necessarily care if their efforts result in profit? Japanese blacksmith Kogoro Kurata and British animatronics expert Matt Denton are live specimens with a simple purpose: make awesome robotic machines.

Those with an even mildly passing interest in robotics technology probably heard about Tokyo-based Suidobashi Heavy Industries’ Kuratas robot last year. Those just a bit robo-geekier have probably seen this month’s blast of coverage on Winchester-based Micromagic Systems’ Mantis robot. Here’s a quick rundown to set the stage (also see specs & videos below):

Kuratas – Japan, Public in July, 2012
Team leader Kogoro Kurata is by trade a blacksmith, and with perhaps a few sponsors and some donated labor, his namesake Kuratas robot appears to be an entirely self-funded undertaking. In development for some 3-4 years, Kurata considers his four-legged rolling mech project an artistic and proof-of-concept exercise, and this exercise can be bought and customized: rolling away in your own Kuratas will only require US $1.3 million (bells & whistles also available at $50,000-$100,000 each). Realistically, it’s probably cheaper to pack up and move to Japan than pay for overseas shipping on this one.

Mantis – U.K., Public in April 2013
Matt Denton is a microelectronics and software guy who, when not making giant robot bugs, makes other robotic stuff for the entertainment industry. Denton’s walking hexapod project took off in 2009, and he considers Mantis a demonstration piece and hopefully a source of inspiration for other robot makers. While it’s managed under the umbrella of his company, Micromagic Systems, the project does receive additional outside funding. At the moment, Mantis is not for sale, but you can arrange appearances, demos, and sponsorships. How about, uhhh… birthday parties?

A Win for Imagination
The Kuratas robot is last year’s news, but this month’s announcement of the updated Mantis robot provides an opportunity to remember that not all valuable technological development has to be sober or practical or provide immediate, obvious utility. Sure, perhaps Mr. Kurata in Japan and Mr. Denton in the U.K. are the embodiment of oversized boys with cash enough to build man-sized toys – but check your worldview – that is not a bad thing!

If you’ll forgive here a small slice of cheese, it’s nice to know that these grown men haven’t let the grown-up world and the joyless, withered, humorless souls of business and academia emasculate their imaginations. From nearly opposite sides of the earth these independent robot creators have chased their dream of building badass robots because building badass robots is badass. It’s truly admirable.

While the latest from Kurata’s and Denton’s imaginations are wildly dissimilar in design, origin, and intent, there is also a measure of commonality. This isn’t Kurata’s first giant mech rodeo, and Denton’s been at the hexapod game since long before Mantis went into development; they’re both robotics veterans. On top of that, although released 8 months apart, both robots received common threads of media attention. We saw it last year with Kuratas, and this month Mantis is also getting a taste of the “Wow, that’s an interesting but useless robot, so… moving on.” or the “Gee, what an irresponsible and wasteful thing to create.”

Superficial media blips overlook not only the imagination put into these robot masterpieces, but also give little treatment to the super-advanced and original engineering, computer science, and design prowess that defines these machines not as mere sculpture, but actual factual functioning robots. 

Mantis and Kuratas: Also a Win for Pure Science
No doubt, Kurata and Denton are the drive behind their respective robots, but their forces of passion have also produced two world-class robotics engineering and software development teams. Sure, Kuratas and Mantis may be indulgent, but while these two executive-level robot dorks pursue their geeky dreams, they’re also producing loads of practical knowledge and providing a venue for other developers to experiment.

Kurata and Denton had their self-driven, beholden-to-none ideas and goals, so they made some hypotheses, got their R&D teams together, did countless tests and trials, built models and stuff, rejiggered this and that, and eventually sent out a press release and uploaded their justifiably viral YouTube videos you see down below.

Please forgive another slice of robogeekery cheese, but it’s worth stating that pursuing something because you love it, seeing if you can get it to work just to see if you can get it to work… well, that’s some beautiful, pure science right there. In robot form.

Go Make Your Own
You might have noticed this wasn’t much of a showdown. Really, it’s a vote of encouragement to anyone building iron giants, tinkering with a robot hobby kit, or wiring together cardboard boxes, tubing, and PVC pipe.

So, good luck to Kurata and Denton, we love your work and we’re waiting for the next generations. And hey guys, how about fostering a little international cooperation and goodwill amongst robots: mount Kuratas on the Mantis chassis and have a little cultural exchange?

Oh would it were.

MANTIS:

KURATAS:

Images & Specs: suidobashijuko.jp & mantisrobot.com

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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.

We’re rolling, and 3, 2, 1 – ACTION:
“Gee-whiz Bob, those crazy Japanese robot guys are at it again, how about a ridiculous soundbite and poorly executed pun, and hey, here’s an unoriginal one-liner, ha, ha, ha, those Japanese and their raw fish and creepy weirdo robots, what’ll they think of next? Well, here’s Tom with the weather!”
And… Cut to commercial.

What is that? Is it that when presented with news of projects that are so advanced, and somewhat non-intuitively, so very practical, we lack a common language for describing them? Is there really no room for a context that would qualify the profound, ground-breaking nature of so much of Japan’s robotics research? Well, to counteract this, with inspiration from last week’s announcement of Tsukuba University students’ robotic Riaju Coat (fulfillment coat), which “makes the feeling like girlfriend hugs,” it seemed a good time to visit and contextualize a few of the so-called weird, creepy, and bizarre robots of Japan.

Now to be fair, upon first encounter with what above appears to be a melty wax figure, some disembodied buttcheeks, and a slack-jawed robotic ghost baby, even the most hardcore geektastic socially awkward labcoat pocket-protector brigade member might be disturbed, unsettled, and perhaps consumed by laughter – and those feelings would likely be amplified among the non-sciencey general public. Such reactions are kinda understandable; in disposable yet easily digestable snack-pack media coverage devoid of context and drowning in sensationalism, it’s not unreasonable to shrug and think “Yep, the Japanese make creepy robots for no good reason, boy o’ boy they’re just so weird.”

Context is key. With little if any qualification, many of Japan’s fantastically interesting and highly advanced projects are given a brief pony show and then dismissed as weird, bizarre. uncanny, eerie, freaky, terrifying, even nightmarish. And okay, we all need pageviews, in fact some of us delight in blasting our audience with a catchy hook and a good dose of technosnark (which is rapidly becoming all that separates us from quickly improving AI journalists), but without swinging back around and contextualizing the subject matter, rather than informing we’re just barking for attention.

So, here’s a contextual girlfriend hug to three of Japan’s somewhat misunderstood robotics projects:

“Geminoid F: The creepily lifelike singing fem-bot” -The Week
Hiroshi Ishiguro’s lab is responsible for a handful of Japan’s most advanced robots, among which are the Geminoid series and the variably sized Telenoid torsobots. In addition to being research platforms, the Geminoid robots travel to professional and educational venues and have even taken the stage in a robot theater production. Professor Ishiguro’s doppelganger, the female Geminoid F, and the very realistic duplicate of Professor Henrik Scharfe of Denmark’s Aalborg University are not grandiose, narcissistic exercises to impress and/or play practical jokes on geeky friends. These increasingly lifelike machines represent cutting-edge research and exploration into understanding the subtleties not only of teleoperation, but also parsing and duplicating the essence of human presence. There is no other project like it.

“Robotic butt is even stranger and creepier than it sounds” -ABC News
First of all, shiri means “butt” in Japanese. Imagine if English-speaking researchers made a robotic butt and just called the project “BUTT.” Scientists… not so much with the marketing. Now, we might, no, we totally do laugh and poke fun, so to speak, at robotic buttcheeks. But are they creepy? Not really. An endless well of difficult-to-resist adolescent jokes? No doubt. Butt you see, someday soon markets for the above Geminoid and other realistic humanoid androids will begin to ramp up, and the young Dr. Takahashi, who alone pioneered this responsive, appropriately articulated, lifelike, and anatomically necessary artificial body part, will be laughing all the way to the bank with pockets full of buttcheek money. Sure, it’s easy to find humor here, but robots are someday going to need the fruits of Dr. Takahashi’s labor. There is no other project like this.

“Awww, eerie CB2 child-bot is growing up” -CNET
The CB2 project has been ongoing for more than six years, and its work toward replicating the developmental cognitive behavior of a toddler is unprecedented in scope and length. Is the robot a little hard to look at? Yeah, okay, this one’s pretty easily described as creepy, actually human children are creepy enough without being robots – but there’s so much more going on here! Early childhood development shapes human beings for our entire lives, and somewhat parallel to the truism of never really knowing your own language until you learn another, perhaps we’ll never truly know ourselves until we can replicate a reasonable facsimile of our most formative years. So okay, we might open with “WOW, creepy!,” but we should qualify that this kind of long-term, simultaneously robotic and psychological research is in fact unique and entirely unprecedented. So again – no other project like it.

In 2011, what Japan lacked in practical everyday rescue and recovery robots they were more than making up for in world-class exploration of the potential implications of robotics in everyday human life. In time, these ongoing projects will form much of the foundation for our future understanding of social robotics, and they might even teach us a bit about ourselves. So, the next time you catch some flippant or condescending coverage of an unexpected standout robot from Japan, bear in mind that the notion of something being “creepy” is very much a matter of context, precedent, and perspective, and be careful – with that discreet little adjective one might be ignoring the fascinating story of an important and vital step toward both realizing and understanding the super-advanced machines of the future.

Honorable Mention Robotic Awesomeness Addendum:
Equally welcome here is Paro the therapeutic baby seal, Kagawa University’s robotic mouth/throat project, the Showa Hanako 2 dental training robot, and a last-round alternate, the Suzumu SushiBot. What are we missing? What are your favorites? Let us know down below!
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.

Sweet, More J-Robots! …Oh. Industrial Robots?
Okay, today will not be heroic rescue & recovery robots, nor life-changing assistive robots for the disabled and elderly. No, today we’re talking Japan’s industrial robots, and through profound statistics, talk of money, and wildly general projections for the future, we’re going to spice up this dry robot salad.
Now, industrial robots are basically super-strong, super-precise, fantastically dexterous multi-jointed arms that do pretty much …