Hasta La Gadget!

It’s taken a year to get the sinister ticks and motions of Osaka University’s Affetto baby head out of our nightmares — and now it’s grown a torso. Walking that still-precarious line between robots and humans, the animated robot baby now has a pair of arms to call its own. The prototype upper body has a babyish looseness to it — accidentally hitting itself in the face during the demo video — with around 20 pneumatic actuators providing the movement. The face remains curiously paused, although we’d assume that the body prototype hasn’t been paired with facial motions just yet, which just about puts it the right side of adorable. However, the demonstration does include some sinister faceless dance motions. It’s right after the break — you’ve been warned.

Continue reading Baby robot Affetto gets a torso, still gives us the creeps (video)

Filed under: Robots

Baby robot Affetto gets a torso, still gives us the creeps (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 06:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Beicho Katsura III is a rakugo master and is kind of a Living National Treasure in Japan. Rakugo, for those who don’t know, is an early Japanese form of entertainment. Basically, a storyteller. This guy sits on stage and uses a paper fan and small piece of cloth as his only props. The Rakugoka uses these as he narrates a long story. The robot seen here wants to take his job, like so many robots are apt to do.

This robot was created to honor the 86-year-old Beicho Katsura III and is the work of Osaka University professor Hiroshi Ishiguro and makeup artist Shinya Endo. The million dollar robot mimics the great storyteller pretty well with its head movements and facial expressions. It’s the usual creepy uncanny valley stuff and at times (maybe it’s just me) it looks just like Regis Philbin.

The Beicho Android will perform hourly impersonations of Beicho Katsura III at the Sankei Hall Breeze next month. Don’t miss it if you are in the area.

[via Ubergizmo]

Confusingly announced by Fujitsu, the Toshiba Regza T-02D will settle into a wall of similarly bright-colored, good-looking smartphones in NTT DoCoMo stores starting this week. The (Japan-only) phone’s 4.3-inch OLED screen holds onto a middling qHD resolution, but Fujitsu says its “new AMOLED Plus technology” will apparently render in higher clarity than any of its preceding smartphone displays — we’ll wait to see it in action before coming to any conclusions. There’s no word on who’s behind the dual-core 1.5GHz processor, but Xi connectivity (how Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo brands its LTE provision) makes a Qualcomm chipset likely. Fujitsu is also pushing the phone’s ‘human-centric’ Android skin, like what we saw on its own quad-core slab). This involves a collection of UI tweaks to the base Android 4.0 OS, including Intellicolor, where the phone will sense the color of ambient light and tweak the display accordingly. The phone’s 13.1-megapixel camera reaches an impressively high ISO level of 25600, running on Sony’s back-illuminated Exmor R sensor, while Fujitsu’s also channeled the ghost of the original Motorola Atrix, resurrecting a fingerprint unlock sensor. Other features worth mentioning include high-definition NOTTV compatibility, plus certified water and dust resistance. As is expected from the world of Japanese smartphones, there’s a selection of colors too — the T-02D will be available in Pink, Black and Blue from launch. Japan residents wondering exactly which company made the phone can try to get their head around the full release below.

Continue reading Toshiba REGZA T-02D smartphone launches in Japan: ‘New AMOLED Plus’ display, old resolution

Filed under: Cellphones

Toshiba REGZA T-02D smartphone launches in Japan: ‘New AMOLED Plus’ display, old resolution originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 14:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen a fair share of Android-powered set-tops in our time, but KDDI (with the help of Panasonic) has taken a slightly different entertainment route with its recently unveiled Smart TV Box. Similar to some Google TV boxes, which the Smart TV Box isn’t, KDDI plans to bring this one to cable providers in Japan to act as the main unit in living rooms, with the testing phase set to commence as soon as next month. KDDI’s Smart TV Box is powered by an undisclosed dual-core chip and feeds off of a tasty bite of Mountain View’s Ice Cream Sandwich. As far as ports and other features, there’s HDMI and three USB ports on board, while ethernet (WiFi, too) keeps you connected and a built-in hard drive takes care of all your DVR needs. Like we said earlier, trial runs will start in August, but the Japanese company expects to have the brick officially up-and-running in a number of households later this fall. In the meantime, though, there’s a soothing video for your viewing pleasure just past the break.

Continue reading KDDI unveils ICS ‘Smart TV Box’ for cable providers in Japan, available later this year (video)

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Home Entertainment

KDDI unveils ICS ‘Smart TV Box’ for cable providers in Japan, available later this year (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Buffalo’s HDD repertoire is already pretty well stacked, but there’s nothing wrong with the company giving you extensive storage options. The newest one to join the external drive pile is the HDW-P550U3, boasting a decent 500GB capacity, the latest-gen of USB tech (or 3.0, if you prefer), WiFi (B,G,N) for some cordless doc-transferring action and a hefty 2,860mAh battery that promises to give you around five hours of usage. Sadly, unlike its HD-PATU3 cousin, there’s no Thunderbolt incision in this guy, but this is likely to still keep folks interested in the former. That’s not to take anything away from the HDW-P550U3, though, which is expected to be available in Japan next month with a 23,205 yen price tag, or about $295 in US cash.

Filed under: Wireless, Storage

Buffalo outs HDW-P550U3 external drive with USB 3.0 and WiFi in Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jul 2012 10:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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