Hasta La Gadget!

Welcome to Japanese Technology from the Future Friday!
It’s already Friday west of the international dateline – here in Japan, it’s totally the future. The weekly JTFF is our somewhat technosnarky coverage of 2-5 particularly important, specifically Japan-related tech stories. Get yourself hip to the micro & macro that went down while North America was sleeping – check in with Akihabara News every Friday morning and BOOM! Ahead of the game, you win.

:: JTFF – May 3, 2013 ::

• New Pacific Rim Trailer for Japanese Audiences
The JTFF doesn’t often jump into entertainment stories, but since this one’s 1. about giant robots fighting alien sea monsters (“kaiju,” Japanese for “monster”), and 2. directed by Guillermo del Toro, it’s not only wildly relevant (perhaps you’ve noticed our recent renaissance in robotics coverage?), but also promises to maybe, just maybe be a decent blockbuster-scale robot movie. Jump through to see what the suits up in marketing decided to aim at the Japanese.
[PACIFIC RIM JAPAN TRAILER – DIGITAL JOURNAL]

• How Robots are Changing the Way We Age
Interesting and very comprehensive coverage of why and how robots will be all up the developing world’s aging process. Of course anyone worth their Robo-Dorky merit badge knows Japan’s aging society is the vanguard of the “Yeah so we’re getting old really fast and who’s going to take care of us ummm okay let’s do robots” club, and this piece provides a very nice contextual framework for how the issue’s addressed both here and in the rest of the world. For a primer, you might want to begin with our own coverage here.
[GETTING OLD WITH ROBOTS & STUFF – FISCAL TIMES]

• Japan’s Taking Nuclear Energy Tech to the Middle East
Not only is Japan funding off-shore wind farms in the eastern United States, they’re also taking J-Tech nuclear energy know-how to the UAE and Turkey. After Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pan-Arabian hobnobbing, a deal was inked for Japan to sell nuclear tech to the UAE, and this bodes well both for tech exports and maintaining Japan’s steady stream of UAE fossil fuels, for which it’s a platinum-level customer. Motivation and angles on the agreement with Turkey are not quite as easy to parse, but appear to be part of Japan’s ongoing efforts to boost technological exports in lucrative markets outside of the traditional electronics, automotive, etc.
[THINGS GO WELL FOR ABE IN THE UAE – UPI] – [TURKEY GETS SOME NUCLEAR J-TECH – JAPAN TIMES]

That was the JTFF, and live from the future – that is all!

_________

Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com, where the JTFF was born.

Tokyo at Night image via PhotoEverywhere.

The world of robotics has certainly come a long way from its humble beginnings, but this still cannot retract the fact that there is plenty left to do to move forward. When it comes to care givers for the ailing and sick, any kind of positive help is welcomed, so it is encouraging to hear that the Japanese government is currently looking into introducing a special kind of “nursing robot” which will offer the relevant assistance to care givers, while preparing the country to meet the demands of an aging population where nearly 40% of folks living there are 65 or older.

These robots are meant to offer assistance in different ways, including lifting and supporting elderly patients and residents who find it difficult to stand or walk on their own. Would such robots cost a bomb? Apparently not, as you do not have to fork out tens of thousands of dollars each, as the Japanese government intends to roll out robots that have watered down functionality for approximately $1,030 after conversion, with plans to rent them out on a monthly basis if long term ownership is not on the agenda. Pretty neat idea, no?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Robot Bird Fools Real Birds In Flight, Japan Plans To Build Robot Nurses To Help Care Givers Assist Elderly Patients,

Tokyo Institute of Technology’s SOINN (Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network) bot was impressive enough during our first introduction back in 2011, but the intelligent device can now tap the web for its latest trick: accurate object identification. The updated system, which appears to utilize a database akin to Google’s image search, can scour the web for similar shots, making it possible to ID objects based on comparable structures published on the web. It can distinguish a box cutter from a knife, for example, or a rickshaw from a car. For now, SOINN is limited to identifying objects in images, including those captured in realtime with a camera, but its designers imagine that future revisions could enable content recognition in video streams, and audio clips, too. Our friends at DigInfo saw the update in action — check it out for yourself in the video after the break.

Filed under: Robots, Internet, Alt

Comments

Source: DigInfo.TV

We’ve seen personal vehicles from Japan that blow away anything we could think of in the U.S., the latest one being the Kidswalker NT. But Nano-Optonics Energy has just launched a new wheelchair that puts the conventional wheelchair to shame with what this one can do.

The “Unimo” is a one-seater electrical vehicle (EV) that looks like sofa and is capable of traversing nearly anything due to its rubber crawler tracks, which replace the traditional wheels found on a wheelchair. It can turn a full 360°, has independent suspension and can climb over a step that is 15cm high, which is nearly 6 inches high. Because of this, the Unimo is able to travel where traditional wheelchairs aren’t able to such as gravel roads in parks or on a sandy beach. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Samoan Airline Begins Charging Passengers By Their Body Weight, Auto Manufacturers Developing Cars With Biometric Sensors,

Despite bidding competition from Dish, Softbank’s founder, Masayoshi Son, has told Reuters that he sees no need to adjust his company’s offer for Sprint. In fact, he’s even seen support from Intel CEO Paul Otellini, who stated in a letter to the FCC last week that a third competitive national carrier is “very compelling.”

During the company’s financial results today, Softbank’s Son went on the attack, spending a big chunk of the presentation pitching what his company would offer over its rival’s bid. He kicked off by saying that Dish’s offer (and comparisons) was “illusory” and how the Japanese carrier’s offer had a 21 percent premium over its rival’s, along with a swifter turnaround: two months compared to a year. Son also said that his company’s offer would sidestep the difficulties in combining spectrum in the US, as Softbank doesn’t currently hold any US wireless spectrum at the moment. The CEO added: “If our deal doesn’t go through with Sprint… the carrier won’t have the cash to follow through with their network vision [this year].”

Earlier in the earnings event, Son said that his company’s healthy native position was “just a stepping stone”, and that he’s now aiming for the number one spot in mobile internet globally — Sprint appears to be a big part of those plans.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sprint

Comments

Source: @masason (Twitter)