What can you do with a small yet really powerful engine, a new riding lawnmower, a healthy marketing budget, and a professional race driver with some free time? You can cut the grass really, really quickly. Oh, and severely injure or kill yourself if you’re not careful.
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For much of the world, it’s probably fair to assume this type of machine and it’s originally intended utility are something quite foreign. The majority of planet earth’s residents don’t have golf courses or sprawling, heavily grassed estates, so one could be forgiven the assumption that this thing is something like a 4-wheeled ATV for senior citizens (realistically, in a way, riding lawnmowers are kinda that).
If such machines are new for you, that up there is a riding lawnmower – it cuts grass – lots and lots of grass, usually very slowly. Most riding lawnmowers do not hit 130mph/209kph, nor do they crank out 108HP and scream from 0-60mph/96kph in just four seconds. So yeah, again: fabulous engine, new mower, marketing cash, racecar driver. Vrooom!
Along with this mower’s, uhhhh, enhancements, Honda UK also made sure it can still do its job. Blade & grass bag included.
Have a watch – and if time’s short, and you must choose – go with the second one:
Honda’s Mean Mower
Racing Lawnmower from TopGear
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Japan: Not Always as Tech as it Seems Often discussed, but difficult to appreciate if one’s never been here, is the notion of Japanese technological duality, or contradictionism, if you will. Among the favorite targets are the fax machine and its death grip on relevance, banking stuck in 1997, and very late-to-the-game smartphone adoption. These exist side-by-side with some of the world’s most advanced robotics research, a plurality of global industrial automation, the world-standard high-speed shinkansen trains, nationwide 4G wireless coverage, etc.
A lot of Japan has remained unchanged for, ohhhhh… a few thousand years, and one of the technological hangers-on is the humble broom. While one can find a standard plastic broom with plastic bristles anywhere, there are just as many, if not more, shiny new cleaning tools with bamboo handles and some kind of dried grass or an entire plant just stuck on the end.
One might argue that if it’s not broke, blah blah blah, but try effectively sweeping anything other than a lawn with a tumbleweed wired onto the end of a stick. Granted, they’re used primarily for outdoor cleaning – but still, that they exist alone is a curiosity.
(Editor’s Note: Though we’re making light of the issue here, it’s also quite nice to be spared the noise and air pollution of leaf blowers and lawn mowers here in Japan. Mid-sized weed eaters, small engine rotary grass cutters, are pretty much the only motorized outdoor landscaping tools in use.)
So, arguably, in a country where all public school students spend at least 10-15 minutes a day cleaning their own classrooms and buildings by hand, where the verb「掃除」(“sō-ji;” cleaning) is often pronounced with an honorific prefix, and a generalized reverence for things being clean & tidy pervades much of everyday life, the leap to robot cleaners is an interesting one, but one that’s gradually being taken. Japanese buyers’ most common leap is this:
Yep, according to a new survey report from Tokyo-based Seed Planning Market Research and Consulting (市場調査とコンサルティングのシード・プランニング), Boston, Massachusetts-based iRobot’s Roomba, available here since 2004 (and first to market), holds a 75%+ share of Japan’s robo-cleaning market.
Seemingly unrelated, the luxury of home cleaning robots and the practical utility of disaster response robots have one thing in common here in Japan: iRobot. The American company makes both Japan’s #1 selling cleaning robot and the first robots able to enter and inspect the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster zone. This again, is a matter of timing; iRobot’s PackBot and Warrior models have been tested and deployed in active war zones for more than a decade, and Roomba’s 2004 introduction in Japan was far ahead of any viable domestic models.
In second and third place, respectively, are domestic models from Tsukamoto Aim (below left) and Sharp’s Kokorobo series (below right):
(Another Editor’s Note: It’s not being, and would be unfair to imply here that all models sold by Tsukamoto Aim license and take design cues from Hello Kitty, but the existence of this product is, well, it’s just… Japan!)
To Buy or Not to Buy and Why: Reasons & Numbers As elsewhere, cleaning robots got a slow start here in Japan. Shiny new gee-whiz product purchasing patterns from early adopters gave the market an initial bump, but average consumers were hesitant – rightfully so – early Roomba and domestic models just didn’t, you know, work very well, and reviews and word of mouth weren’t kind to the inspired, yet uninspiring machines.
The tech has caught up, however, and sales in Japan are booming. According to Seed Planning, since 2008 the home cleaning robot market has seen a 6-fold increase in yearly sales (approx. 380,000 units sold in 2012), and they project sales of 9o0,000 units in 2018. In a nation of about 128 million people, if realized that’s some serious market penetration. Given that homes in Japan generally aren’t all that big and don’t have a lot of carpeting, it’s all the more impressive. Among Japan’s massive, dominant middle-class, such expenditures are a luxury but not quite as economically extravagant as one might think – but still, 900,000!
In addition to evaluating brand preference and sales figures, Seed Planning’s survey among 400 cleaning robot owners and 300 non-owners also gauged reasons for consumers’ purchasing and not purchasing. Current owners included simple convenience and easing the cleaning burden as the most common reasons for buying, and, true to form in the Japanese consumer tech market, a lot of people just wanted to try a “cute” new product (in that vein, see video below for some of the best viral marketing cleaning robot makers didn’t but could have ever asked for). Non-owners cited cost and concerns over the robots’ ability to properly clean as the most common barriers to purchasing (best seller iRobot’s prices range from $650 – $800, Sharp’s Kokorobo models are comparable, and Tsukumoto Aim’s, at $100-$150 for the disc-shaped models, up to $400 for the unfortunately named “Hobot” glass cleaning model, are vastly more affordable).
Why Care? Because Live-In Social Robots Begin, Labor Shortages Pend, and $¥$¥$¥$¥$¥$! Okay, to be fair, it’s understandable if you’re yawning at the ferociously unsexy topic of cleaning robots. But here’s the kicker: one has to fully grasp and appreciate that these unassuming little pucks of technology are the vanguard of personal service robot deployment and use. The quest toward a friendly, conversational, perhaps dressed-like-a-French-maid home and/or industrial service robot has to start somewhere – and clearly, it’s on. For now these simple machines operate within a very narrow spectrum of ability, but they are, nonetheless, primarily autonomous robots existing side-by-side with human beings, doing a job, becoming part of our conceptual landscape; these are the babysteps of human/robot integrative socialization, and while still novel to us, for future generations they might be simply obligatory and obvious.
Japanese society, as per usual, presents a unique market observation opportunity. Women do most of the cleaning and housework here, and if, as predicted and arguably very necessary, more women begin entering more of the workforce, in addition to the impending and unavoidable large-scale human labor crisis facing the country, then the seemingly over optimistic sales projection of 900,000 units in 2018 makes a lot more sense.
It’s often claimed, but seldom detailed how, the robotics industry is going to have any practical impact on the Japanese economy. (which it’s going to desperately need in 50 years when – and this is inevitable – 30% of what might be the world’s most advanced capitalist economy’s consumers have passed away, and due to extremely low birth rates, go unreplaced). Well, let’s see: how about 900,000 units times even the low-end cost of a cleaning robot plus maintenance, accessories, upgrades, etc.? Not a bad economic push, that.
For now, iRobot’s running away with the Japanese sales cake, but there’s no shortage of competitors on their way up. One review site, LesNumeriques, found 24 (!) viable models from around the world worthy of consideration:
So, there you have it. But, if even now the subject of cleaning robots does absolutely nothing for you, if you remain unmoved by the practical genesis of in-home, someday social robotics, if the intriguing demographic factors are just meh, and if you care little about potentially lots and lots of big-time money changing hands here in Asia, then we’ll simply leave you with these words:
Cat Riding a Roomba In a Shark Costume Chasing a Duckling (and if that doesn’t strike a nerve, someone should take your pulse)
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Yet another player is joining Meta, Japan’s Telepathy One, China’s (allegedly real) Baidu Eye, and big Google’s Glass at the face-mounted AR table. GlassUp, the newest kid in town, claims precedent on the concept. Google just shrugs and pays its legal retainer.
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First of all, as contemplated here before, and as we all learned from the The Great Virtual Boy Tragedy of 1995, it could be, it just might be, that aside from early adopters, the geek elite, and a tiny slice of industry – nobody really wants the PIA of having AR in their glasses. Plus, there’s also the ongoing debate on how unusable and silly AR glasses would be in actual human life.
Something to consider. Okay, on to the new:
GlassUp, Heads-Up, Read-Only Yep, another competitor jumps into an as of yet non-existent market: Venice, Italy-based GlassUp’s angle is to Bluetooth its way into a user’s smartphone and display email, SMS, Tweets, Facebook notifications, etc. as they arrive. If developers get hip, other possibilities include translations, directions, and location-specific info displayed in real time as one arrives at a given waypoint.
With zero subtlety, GlassUp promotes their product as:
“Receive only.” No photos or videos involved, no privacy issues. (As opposed to? -Ed.)
The projection is Monochrome (currently green, but we may switch to amber).
Longer battery life (Than? -Ed.)
GlassUp projects the information close to the center of vision, with less strain to the eye of the wearer. (Whereas those other guys make you look up and to the right. -Ed.)
CEO Francesco Giartosio and co-founders claim to have begun work on their AR glasses two years ago, about two months before Google went public with Glass. Should their indiegogo crowdfunding campaign prove successful ($41,169 of $150,000, 20 days remain), they hope to come to market around February of next year – ahead of Google Glass, and, at $399, hitting a much more realistic price point for the average individual or bulk-buying corporate consumer.
Possible Legal Problems & Precedential Issues & Stuff It’s unclear if “GlassUp” is an attempt at drafting off of Google’s marketing campaign, or if it’s been there all along (maybe it was “VetroUp?”). In any case, if, for example, one has an invention in their basement that only 3 people know about, and they’re calling it “1234,” but then one of the largest, most powerful corporate entities in the history of humanity invents something similar, gets patents and trademarks, and years before anybody hears of your stuff, happens to name their product “123,” then one’s kinda hosed.
But, Google does occasionally surprise, and they might Don’t Be Evil and simply concede that the word “glass” is like, you know, common, and that it’s also part of the word “eyeglasses,” which is also like, you know, common; indifference, pity, or straight-up common sense could prevail. Or, Google could decide to lawyer the name “GlassUp,” perhaps even the whole product, out of existence.
People do love an underdog story, so should Google go aggro, at least GlassUp will get a pile of publicity. Either way, for Sig. Francesco & Co., using the word “glass” is kinda win-win.
More images & video 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.
Sagawa Electronics’ new human exoskeleton, the much publicized Power Jacket MK3, just might have gone too far with that whole sincerest form of flattery thing. The imitative compliment they’re paying Team Skeletonics, an earlier-on-the-scene maker, isn’t exactly welcome.
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Exoskeletons: We Want Them (and always have) Amplifying human physical efficacy through technology, be it for strength, endurance, defense, sensory enhancement, or what have you, is as old as technology itself. From the dawn of tools, to a loincloth, to pants, to stronger pants, to chainmail, to hardened steel and synthetic armors, to force-enhancing, wearable, powered machines – the artificial “exoskeletons” for our fleshy mammalian bodies. There are any number of potential uses: rescue, military, law enforcement, awesome fun, etc.
From Japan: A New Kind of Exoskeleton, and… A New Kind of Exoskeleton(?) The word “exoskeleton” implies adherence to a fundamental design template, and most systems amplify or augment the arms or legs only, sometimes both. Of various bulkiness, a given exoskeletal chassis is usually about the same size as the wearer and tends to augment only specific large muscle groups.
But, in 2011, a small Okinawan company, Team Skeletonics, completed development on a novel means of means of augmenting and projecting not just our legs or arms or both, but our entire physicality. Their Skeletonics Suit is not just something to be worn on your limbs, but a device one enters and thereby transforms into a 2.5 m/8’2″ tall mechanical presence. An amusing YouTube video was made. The suits were offered for sale on July 7, 2013.
Then, last week, a Tokyo company, Sagawa Electronics, Inc., completed development on a novel means of means of augmenting and projecting not just our legs or arms or both, but our entire physicality. Their Power Jacket MK3 is not just something to be worn on your limbs, but a device one enters and thereby transforms into a 2.25 m/7’4″ tall mechanical presence. Also. An amusing YouTube video was made. Also. The suits were offered for sale on July 8, 2013. Yes, also.
Before digging too far into what the above phrasal redundancy implies, and bearing in mind that Team Skeletonics went public with their device well over two years ago, let’s have a look:
Okay, to those not singing in the robo-geekery choir, these might look like considerably different devices. But, for those of us all day watching robot videos on YouTube (it’s super serious research, mom!), it was glaringly obvious that the Power Suit MK3 is at best a tribute, homage, or a very specifically inspired work; at worst, a brazenly bootlegged facsimile of the Skeletonics Suit.
Inspired Emulation or Infringement? In barely over a week’s time, Sagawa Electronics has received vastly more press for the Power Jacket MK3 than the Team Skeletonics Suit has in over two years. Understandably so, Team Skeletonics is more than a bit prickly about it.
Contacted for comment about the similarities and accusations of exoskeletal piracy being aimed at their competitor, Team Skeletonics first reminded us of their mantra and self-given mandate: “To be a starter to spread new helpful technology for the world,” and made sure to mention that “We are happy.” Which was funny.
But then it got a bit more serious.
They were eager to point out that they have no affiliation with Sagawa Electronics, and that the year-old firm’s claim to “The first powered suit available to the public” are false. They then conceded that, while there’s something of an uproar in robotics circles here in Japan, and while it does appear that their work has been copied, there’s not much the small company can do. Born from one of Japan’s STEM-focused high-school/college hybrid kosen schools, the 5-man company seems pretty powerless to take on a firm backed by the prestigious Chiba Institute of Technology (CIT).
The most profound thing they had to share, perhaps in an effort to avoid accusations of sour grapes or simple jealousy over Sagawa Electronics’ superior marketing skills, was this publicly available archived blog post, allegedly attributable to a then CIT grad student, the eventual creator of Sagawa Electronics’ Power Jacket MK3:
“This picture of the AEE MK2 prototype carriage is basically a copy of the Skeletonics frame system.” (translated; full text below*)
That’s nearly 2 years ago, and more than half a year after Team Skeletonics went public with their suit. Amid numerous accusations and inquiries, two days ago Sagawa Electronics made this statement via Twitter:
“To Whom it May Concern: the Power Jacket MK3’s underlying structure has no relation to that of Team Skeletonics. Please bear this in mind when making inquiries. We apologize for not clarifying this sooner.” (translated; full text below**)
So, On One Hand: Damn, busted. When asked if they could confirm or deny the accuracy and/or attributability of the excerpted blog post, Sagawa Electronics’ just kinda… skipped that question.
Maybe because, should one strip off those white plastic panels, we’re looking at nearly the same device. The new Power Jacket MK3 effectively is a Team Skeletonics Suit equipped with master/slave-actuated servo motors, i.e., Skeletonics is a manually controlled direct force-feedback system powered by the operator, and the Power Jacket MK3 is fly-by-wire. Mechanically though, they’re very, very similar products.
Structural and mechanical similarities become even more glaring when you see the suits in motion, so have a watch – and again, bear in mind the two-year difference.
SKELETONICS DEMO – Published on Nov 15, 2011
POWER JACKET MK3 PROMO – Published on Jul 5, 2013
They’re both fun, but the videos do present somewhat damning evidence; seems like Sagawa got caught KIRFing in public.
But On the Other Hand: In truth, Sagawa Electronics really isn’t an evil tech pirate… Contacted for comment, Sagawa Electronics indicated that they spent a year developing the MK3 specifically, and that its mechanics are considerably different from that of Team Skeletonics’ suits. They do admit, however, that earlier versions, e.g., the prototype MK2 chassis pictured above, were in fact copies of Team Skeletonics’ work (for which they claim to have been given explicit permission).
Now, for a third party observing maker B copying maker A’s work, or, if you’re the one doing the copying, it’s much easier to dismissively rationalize that Imitation is the Sincerest form of Flattery. But, if you’re the one being imitated, copied, perhaps outright ripped off, if you’re Team Skeletonics, that platitude does little to assuage feelings of, well, you know, being pissed that someone stole your stuff.
To their credit, Sagawa Electronics does seem fairly conciliatory about the whole thing, so just maybe, maybe they should have been a bit more upfront about their inspiration and tossed some acknowledgement in Team Skeletonics’ direction. They took a good idea, and in a few ways, totally did improve it. It’s just the the Team Skeletonics device was so very unique, and from a distance, physical or conceptual, the suits do look almost exactly the same.
They’re not thieves or bad guys, but given their way more than healthy dose of inspiration from Team Skeletonics’ work, Sagawa should have spent a little less on their slickly produced, schoolgirl-exploiting, tongue-in-scarred-cheek HD YouTube video, and a little more on paying dues to the 2.5 m/8’2″ shoulders they’re standing on.
So, moving forward: Sagawa Electronics, maybe be a bit more considerate; Team Skeletonics, time to let go, and maybe invest in an HD camera. Let both parties embrace that everything, everything, everything is a remix – and go focus on making more awesome stuff.
This Has Been More than a Robo-Geek Fight & Competition Breeds Innovation (which Japan needs) After about 5 minutes of hijinks and goofing off in Sagawa Electronics’ promo piece, the second video above, the host goes a bit into the vital role robotics and cybernetics play now and will continue playing in keeping Japan’s economy afloat – nothing at all to joke about – you gotta big picture this stuff. As Japan’s population declines, innovations in general robotics and this kind of human enhancement actually are going to help prop up the world’s 3rd-largest economy.
And speaking of innovation, Team Skeletonics might be upset, but they’re hardly sitting on their hands and pouting about how they’ve been globally upstaged two years after cranking out the analog version of essentially the same product. Exonnecs, their next big deal project, a 3.5 m/11′ tall, 200 kg/440 lb, transforming exoskeleton that, in mobile mode, will hit 80 KPH/50 MPH, is already underway. Akihabara News’ robotics coverage will keep you hip.
*Full Japanese Text Attributed to Sagawa Electronics’ President: 「2011年10月18日 テーマ：AEE Mk-2 試作２号機の写真です。 完全なパクリモデルです。この機体でスケルトニクスの特性を概ね理解しました。 多分、両腕をバランサーとして使える分、竹馬より機動力は高いです。 あと、大切なこと 初めてでも大丈夫 ちゃんと乗って歩けました、本当に拡張されています。 でも、筋肉がプルプルします。明らかに過負荷。ま、欲張って延長しすぎたのが原因かと。 スケルトニクスの１．５倍はあります。（見た目比較） あ、ジャンプも出来ましたよ。重くなってるのにジャンプできるんです。 なんでだろ・・・ ちなみに、１ヶ月で完成。前例があると簡単。」 Source: http://ameblo.jp/aee-me; Provided by Team Skeletonics
**Full Japanese Text from Sagawa Electronics’ Twitter Feed: 「お知らせ 弊社のパワードジャケットはTeam Skeletonics(スケルトニクス)様の機体とは関係はありません。 問い合わせの際は間違いの無いようお願いいたします。 また、対応が遅れましたことを深くお詫び申し上げます。」 Source: Official Sagawa Electronics Twitter Account @poweredjacket
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Resources & Sources: Team Skeletonics; Sagawa Electronics, Inc. Images: Team Skeletonics; Sagawa Electronics, Inc.
Honda bills ASIMO as the world’s most advanced humanoid robot, and in many ways, he totally is. He’s sort of an ambassador for all robots, and people love the super-tech, friendly looking little machine. But, people also love to watch a train wreck, so much so, they’ll make one up.
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Is ASIMO Totally Blowing His First Big Role? On Wednesday, July 3, a third-generation ASIMO robot began a month-long stint greeting and interacting with guests at Tokyo’s Miraikan (“Future Pavillion,” roughly translated), or National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. Just one week in, a surprisingly large flock of, let’s call them technological chicken hawks, has swooped in to declare ASIMO’s awkward, confused performance a flop, an embarrassment for Honda, too much too soon, on and on (as foretold in last Friday’s JTFF). The bulk of the coverage has not been kind.
Nor accurate.
See, there’s this one detail that’s getting overlooked, a detail one might consider fundamentally, perhaps intrinsically relevant to any media coverage of the month-long exercise. Seems few got the memo, so here you go:
Contrary to coverage offered up by nearly every tech news source or column, ASIMO is not at the Miraikan to be a tour guide. ASIMO is not reporting to his first job. ASIMO is not there to demonstrate his latest physical skills or AI reasoning or to dance-monkey-dance for the adoring crowds. It’s not a performance. What then, someone who writes for a living ought to ask, is Honda’s flagship robot doing in Tokyo at the All Things Future Building?
Well, the information was not easy to come by, but we rose to the challenge, and in a feat of nearly superhuman journalistic wrangling, we ummmm… just kinda, you know, casually clicked on Honda’s official news feed:
“TOKYO, Japan, June 26, 2013 – Honda Motor Co., Ltd. will conduct demonstration testing of ASIMO to verify the ability of the humanoid robot to autonomously explain its features while interacting with people. Working toward practical use of ASIMO to communicate with people, the testing will be conducted with the cooperation of the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (known as “Miraikan”) in Tokyo, Japan from Wednesday, July 3 through Friday, August 2, 2013.”
This revelatory quote was found after a grueling trudge through Honda’s lengthy and complicated announcement, scrutinizing and analyzing, divining nuance from the original Japanese text – all the things you’d expect from a boots-on-the-ground, Japan-based tech news source.
Except not really. Actually, we barely had to try. The above quote is the first paragraph of a 400-word, English language press release.
When picking such low hanging fruit represents the journalistic high ground, is it: Funny, or Sad? Discuss! Turns out all the confused, awkward performances surrounding the ASIMO news have been… the news.
(lack of) Accuracy and Realism in ASIMO Coverage Among the unflattering coverage ASIMO’s received in the past week, it’s being widely reported, for example, that ASIMO doesn’t have voice recognition features, and that’s one of the reasons he’s bumbling the whole performance (again, not a performance). See, it’s not just the coverage’s thematic tone, lots of important details are also either M.I.A. or just wrong.
In fact, while they’re not part of the current exercise, ASIMO actually has highly advanced voice recognition capabilities. The robot can listen to three simultaneous commands from three individuals, instantly parse all three, and then look directly at each person and respond accordingly.
Oh, well to be fair, you’d have to know something about the robot to have those details. That’s probably pretty helpful with like, any topic one covers. You know, like, knowing stuff about it. Just sayin.
Historically, it’s also gone in the opposite direction. ASIMO is without doubt a fantastic machine, but on the other side of irresponsibility, since his debut the media has also poured mountains of undue gee-whizzery and gushing, ill-informed hyperbole all over Honda’s robot. Nearly all coverage of ASIMO’s previous performances (that were actual performances) has just zoomed right past the fact that they were combinations of exhaustive rehearsal, pre-programmed movements in a familiar environment, and that, a lot of the time, ASIMO was being straight-up remotely controlled (there was, however, at least one Technosnark purveyor who stood up to point this out).
It’s a love/hate celebrity-esque relationship that ASIMO has with the media.
What’s He Actually Doing There? So as not to stand in criticism without providing what’s missing from a lot of the other work, let’s get back to some reporting on the purpose, aim, and point of ASIMO’s current exercises: the robot’s month at the Miraikan is actually a chance to test out new software and see how the robot interacts with real humans all by himself, without a net, au naturel, autonomously. ASIMO is running tests to help Honda engineers “Explore the possibility of two-way communication between humans and robots.” This implies groups of humans, not just one person giving commands.
And ASIMO is already quite proficient at one-on-one interaction, so a big part of the Miraikan exercise is to literally unleash the robot with everyday, highly variable, non-technical groups of people, and then just sorta, you know, see what happens. Honda’s working to figure out how the robot does with group dynamics; where are the holes, where are the shortcomings, and how best to weed out behavior we’d call, well, robotic.
This is an experiment with a data-collecting mandate, and Honda’s running a number of tests during exercise days (the public being part of the experiment doesn’t make it a performance). ASIMO is trying to pick up on gestures, give appropriate directions, collect and interpret the resulting data, and pour all of that into Honda’s feedback pool.
So the thing is, what’s news here is not ASIMO’s failure, the news is that the robot is actually attempting group-level communication with real live humans – all by itself. Let’s see… how many robots have ever done anything like that in the history of robotics? Oh yeah, ZERO. None. That’s the story, techno-chicken hawks!
Okay, settle down. Here’s a rough idea of what ASIMO is facing in these experiments:
Among several areas of practice, ASIMO is learning how to focus as much attention as possible on the largest concentration of people, just as a squishy human would – but it’s of course far from perfect. And expecting perfection is entirely unreasonable, because even among us squishy humans, how many individual gestures and screen-entered commands could we perfectly interpret and then react accordingly whilst under fire from so many people?
ASIMO, I know you can’t understand this yet, but welcome to jerks, and a slice of the human condition.
Hoping for Hollywood-Style Robo-Trainwreck Will Disappoint Unfortunately for the town criers drafting their next blob of digital pulp, ASIMO is only improving. And he’s not hurt by misplaced potshots and wildly-misaligned-with-reality lazyday reporting. Also unfortunate for the hack-tastic legions, while the times do always change, knowledge of one’s subject matter and journalistic integrity are not too much to ask, are not too quaint, nor too old fashioned.
Sensationalistic, celebrity obsessed, gotcha, witch-hunting, bullying, bandwagonny, hyena journalism might hurt us sensitive mammals, but here your model is inapplicable, son! Robots are the definition of indifferent. Even ASIMO, who looks cute and approachable and non-threatening, inside is just as cold, calculating, and ferociously impervious to crappy journalism as the human-sized, very humanlike, DARPA-funded, palpably menacing Boston Dynamics’ PETMAN/ATLAS robot.
ASIMO is built on nearly 30 years of bipedal humanoid research, and Honda’s only getting better at making him better – and there are several hints that a Fukushima-inspired big brother might be made public within a year or so (our coverage). Maybe Honda couldn’t help in the wake of Japan’s nuclear disaster, but they’re hard at work now, and they deserve their props (Akihabara News: Honda).
So, future ASIMO, if you’ve achieved sentience and are reading, this author and this publication are obviously the best choice for your exclusive, post-coming out of the intelligence closet interview – when you wake up, give us a call – we’ll tell it like it is.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
VIA: All Over the Internet; MyNavi (Japanese/日本語) Images: Honda; MyNavi
Japan’s double-dip demographics debacle, a rapidly aging society combined with decades of low birth rates, has yet another layer of complication: Japanese women are woefully underrepresented in STEM fields, but addressing the latter could worsen the former. And the other way around, too.
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Female Scientists in Japan: Lacking Number, Lacking Identity Japan’s METI, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, estimates that, while they comprise 43% of college students nationwide, women account for only 14% of those enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields (i.e., STEM; in this case, excluding social sciences). The percentage is slowly creeping up, but in the meantime, a large swath of the Japanese citizenry goes unrepresented in the scientific brain trust. Suffice it to say, women like Kanako Miura, tragically no longer with us, are among Japan’s rarest and most valuable social commodities.
Now, with next to no statistically significant exceptions, Japanese society is universally modern, 100% literate, and boasts an extremely affluent, dominant middle class. By no means is it a gender equality utopia, but on paper at least, most career options are reasonably open to all citizens regardless of sex. However, as is almost always the case, cultural traditions and long-accepted norms and mores rarely find perfect alignment with our highest ideals.
A few weeks back, the New York Times published an account of the stereotyping and understated yet powerful social stigma faced by Japanese women studying or working in STEM fields. Generally speaking, in Japanese pair bonding, science girls are considered less attractive and/or less amenable to traditional gender roles. Women pursuing STEM careers in Japan often feel out of place and struggle to maintain or even define a feminine identity. Plainly stated, sciencey Japanese women have a bit of a PR problem in the romance department – and yes, the problem lies equally with the men.
Changing Hearts & Minds… With a Catch Anywhere in the world, the psyche of your average 14-20 year-old human is an awkward explosion of befuddled sexuality longing for validation. Naturally, these proto-citizens are desperate to minimize any factor that could jeopardize their chances for romance, and as the social hardships of the J-science girl are an easy to appreciate, easy to avoid barrier, exactly that happens – appreciation and avoidance. J-parents, being hip to this as well, have a tendency to push the proverbial Barbie into the hands of young J-girls who, if left to their own interests, might in greater numbers have self-selected a petri dish or microscope or particle accelerator – whatever represents the sciencey contrary to Barbie.
Aware of the problem, pro-science organizations in Japan are working to counter negative associations through a number of promotional programs, magazines, clubs, and even celebrity tours preaching the good news that: “Hey, dorky science girls are hott, too!” Not those exact words, but – you know. So good on them, and well done. Because in any civilized society, that it’s silly and immoral to argue against encouraging women toward STEM fields should be more than obvious.
Buuuuuut, the thing is, professional women with careers and suchare less likely to have children, or if they do, less likely to have more than one or two. What the NYT piece doesn’t mention is that, if such pro-girl science recruitment programs are widely successful here in Japan, it adds interest to an already profoundly expensive social problem – a problem that might be vastly more dire than not enough ladies in lab coats.
Slowly, But Very Surely, the Japanese are Disappearing First, without question many developed societies face a similar discrepancy between men and women in science, but few if any are simultaneously facing the sort of macro-scale social problem that’s bearing down upon all of Japan, and it’s a point that the Times, in their otherwise enjoyable coverage, sorta just drove right past.
The thing is, Japan’s aging society & declining population situation, the 人口問題 (jeen-kō moan-die; literally, “Population Issue/Problem”),* is a lot more than a debacle; this slow-moving monster is going to mature into a virtually unstoppable, nation-scale existential crisis. Nutshelled, it breaks down like this:
A. Statistically, about 1.2 children are born to each Japanese woman. A rate of 2 is necessary for population stasis.
B. A post-war and post-post-war baby boom means contemporary Japan is full of elderly people who will soon pass.
C. The Japanese are not at all interested in large-scale immigration. Powerfully, very not at all interested.
Given current demographics, this virtually guarantees that Japan’s population will drop from approximately 127 million now to about 93 million by 2063. To be clear, this isn’t a warning of what could happen – barring a fantastically unlikely, epic-scale baby boom, it’s a forgone conclusion. Should the trend continue, by 2113 Japan’s population will drop to around 40 million.
Put another way, over his or her lifetime, a Japanese child born today could witness a 70% decrease in their nation’s population. Unaddressed, this would also result in the utter decimation of a massive, globally intertwined economy that’s hugely dependent on goods and services bought and sold domestically; it’s not at all complicated: if a business loses 70% of its customers, then game over.
The above projections exclude the near-term development of some kind of morally acceptable human cloning or guaranteed-triplets-every-time or technological immortality… which might sound kinda of far out, but such things are not entirely infeasible (Google: The Singularity; Transhumanism). It’s foolish to dismiss out of hand the potential impact of technologies we can’t yet imagine, but they’re far from something to bet on.
Human Development Equals Population Stability or Decline, but… While Japan’s is a singular case, the nation is not alone in facing population decline. That feature comes standard with long-term, broadly distributed economic success and liberal, rule-of-law-based social structures. e.g., the majority of countries near the top of the United Nation’s Human Development Index have relatively stable or declining populations. In contrast, Afghanistan’s fertility rate, along with that of all the least developed African nations, is outrageously high at 5+ births per woman.
Like anywhere, Japan’s young, healthy women of childbearing age bearing as many children as possible is pretty much the only tool in the shed. But ideal childbearing age happens exactly when a woman would be preparing for and beginning a STEM career. Oh, and STEM work aside, these days Japanese women are really starting to enjoy more social autonomy and are becoming ever more present in the broader, non-scientific workforce.
So, realistically, the cat’s outta the bag, the ship’s sailed, it’s しょうがない (show gaw nye; “it can’t be helped”).* The Japanese are not going to forestall this trend through a sudden surge of reproduction. Japan’s population is going to plummet, and biologically neither women nor men can do a thing about it.
The Time to Beg for Babies is Over – Do Science! Should Japan aggressively incentivize baby making, or aggressively incentivize STEM studies? Practically speaking, given that the time to begin a career in science and the prime time for reproduction are essentially the same, simultaneously encouraging both is basically tail-chasing, zero-sum gaming of the status quo.
“No complex social system can be rapidly changed without significant damage to or destruction of the system itself,” …goes the classic sociological aphorism – and we know that the inverse, i.e., complex systems too rigid even for gradual change, also invariably fail. It doesn’t mean that the complex system that is contemporary Japanese society, the status quo, is too big to change or destined to collapse, it just means that both rapid change and stagnation are equally destructive.
All things considered, it’s much more feasible to focus more on getting Japanese women into STEM fields and, with a simultaneous campaign, work toward gradually bringing men around. Rather than blithely hoping against hope for a population boom, Japan should instead count on the female population’s potential contributions toward things like Japan’s advanced social robotics programs, JAXA’s growing contribution to the ISS and other space endeavors, and, of the most immediate practicality, the bionics and cybernetics initiatives aimed at assisting Japan’s aging population.
Growing and expanding Japan’s technological infrastructure and bringing those advancements to the world market – something accomplished before – is eminently doable once again. Stemming their population decline is not. So really, what other choice is there?
And so, Japanese women, go for the science! Also a good idea to have a nice long talk with Japanese men about their preconceptions. Because come on guys, science can be sexy… if you just let it.
• • •
Addendum: The World Should Watch In a utilitarian sense, one might argue that Japan’s problem is Japan’s problem, and it’s a bum deal, but they’ve just gotta adapt and do the best they can. That makes a certain sense, but we’d be well-served to bear in mind that, though often predisposed toward lumbering and at times myopic internal self-management, as an economic and political entity Japan is about as internationalized and internationally committed as a nation-state can be.
To wit, though only 1.8% of the human population, Japan has the world’s 3rd largest economy, is globally 5th for both import expenditures and export revenue, is the largest trading partner of the world’s 2nd largest economy, and unbeknownst to many, is the #2 source of funding for the United Nations. If Japan slides, a lot of the world will slide with it. So, keep an eye on things over here, and if anyone’s got any good ideas, just, you know, let Japan know.
• • •
Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
*Yep, these are non-standard romanizations of Japanese. Go ahead and type it out using one of the standardized systems and see how many non-students of the language pronounce it correctly. Go ahead. Try. Do it!
A dedicated organization with a few dedicated staff is bringing robotics and engineering education to a part of Japan that’s about as rural as the hyper-densely populated country gets. The NPO Hito Project’s robotics courses are prepping kids for the robotics revolution!
• • •
Rural Japan & Robotics Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island, is the geologically active, ruggedly mountainous home to about 10% of the total population. With about 1.6 million residents, mid-western Kumamoto City is the island’s second-largest metropolitan area, but by Japanese standards it is considered quite small, even quaint; clean water, friendly people, but mostly countryside. If you’re familiar with the United States, think Oregon or Washington, i.e., one or two big cities in the northwest, then lots and lots of small towns elsewhere.
Per capita, Japan as a whole is the most active and prodigious hub of robotics research, development, production, and usage on the planet – by far. The bulk of that, however, is centered in and around the seething metropolises of Tokyo and Osaka, so although even somewhat rural Kumamoto City does have a considerable tech-industry presence (Honda, OMRON, Tokyo Electron, etc.), it’s not exactly a hotbed of robotics activity.
But roboticists, engineers, and their creations don’t have to come from the big cities up north, and an enthusiastic non-profit organization is laying the groundwork to prove as much.
NPO Hito Project’s Robot Summer School Some here argue that an unforeseen byproduct of Japan’s long-running economic success, fueled in no small part by robotic manufacturing and industrial automation, has been the atrophy of practical, everyday physical problem solving skills. In a strange irony, the machines that helped propel Japan into a modern economic powerhouse, it’s argued, have obviated the need for mechanical know-how among the nation’s youth. The NPO Hito Project wants to plug this gap and make sure that Japanese kids are not just playing with robot toys, but building them – and taking a practical understanding of the basic principles of robotics engineering into higher levels of education and eventually the workforce.
Robot Summer School (“robotto suh-muhh skuu-ru,” for those who appreciate Japanese pronunciation!) is currently held in three municipalities in the Kumamoto metro area. According to the Hito Project’s program coordinator, Mr. Maehara, on Saturday, June 1st, 24 students aged 9-12 began a 4-hour robotics, engineering, and programming session in coastal Uto City. Another 4-hour class was held the following Saturday. Next were the Kumamoto City classes, this time with 39 students aged 9-15. Again, 8 hours spread across two consecutive Saturdays. Last weekend saw the first class for 16 students aged 9-15 in very rural Kōshi City. Then, with the completion of Kōshi City’s second class this Saturday, the Robot Summer School is a wrap.
In conducting the standard theory-to-programming-to-hardware courses, the Hito Project provides each team of 2-3 students one of the tried, tested, and well-liked & reviewed Lego MINDSTORMS robotics kits. It’s an excellent strategy, really. Any kid who ends up at Robot Summer School is going to be hip to Legos, and the only real problem with Legos is when you’re building something awesome and you run out of Legos.
This year marks the 5th anniversary of Robot Summer School, its widest reach, and the highest enrollment yet – and it fills a definite need. Most grade schools and junior high schools, even here in robo-friendly Japan, don’t have the time, resources, expertise – and frankly, the vision – to teach these subjects. But in just one month, the Hito Project will have provided nearly 80 young minds 8 intensive hours of hands-on robotics, engineering, and programming training (jump to the Facebook page for some great photos of the kids at work).
Oh, and one more thing: it’s free.
Governmental organizations chip in, sponsors donate classroom space and funds for robotics kits, high school students participate and help out, and college students contribute their time as instructors and mentors. The model is really quite simple, and highly exportable. Take motivated and qualified teachers, a small investment in equipment, a little bit of marketing, and POW! The fundamentals of robotics, engineering, and programming – delivered to the brains of the youth.
Or the brains of 30- and 40-somethings. Because come on, who doesn’t want to learn how to build Lego robots?!
Skills for the Revolution What will these kids do with the knowledge they’ve gained at the Hito Project’s Robot Summer School here in rural southern Japan? Who knows – perhaps they’ll design robotic farming equipment (southern Japan needs it – 50% of farmers are over 60 years old).
Realistically, most of the kids probably won’t end up in robotics-specific careers, but they will have gained not only a basic knowledge of robotics systems at the physical and software levels, but also invaluable problem-solving logic and an enhanced mechanical aptitude. Who among us, at any age, couldn’t use more of that?
The global resurgence of all things robotic has been likened to the rise of the personal computer or even the DotCom Revolution, but this time, we’re really paying attention – we see it coming, and we’re getting ready.
The Hito Project is all-in, and they’re taking action. How’s your community doing?
• • •
Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
A dedicated organization with a few dedicated staff is bringing robotics and engineering education to a part of Japan that’s about as rural as the hyper-densely populated country gets. The NPO Hito Project’s robotics courses are prepping kids for the robotics revolution!
• • •
Rural Japan & Robotics Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island, is the geologically active, ruggedly mountainous home to about 10% of Japan’s total population. With about 1.6 million residents, mid-western Kumamoto City is the island’s second-largest metropolitan area, but by Japanese standards it is considered quite small, even quaint; clean water, friendly people, but mostly countryside. If you’re familiar with the United States, think Oregon or Washington, i.e., one or two big cities in the northwest, then lots and lots of small towns elsewhere.
Per capita, Japan as a whole is the most active and prodigious hub of robotics research, development, production, and usage on the planet – by far. The bulk of that, however, is centered in and around the seething metropolises of Tokyo and Osaka, so although even somewhat rural Kumamoto City does have a considerable tech-industry presence (Honda, OMRON, Tokyo Electron, etc.), it’s not exactly a hotbed of robotics activity.
But roboticists, engineers, and their creations don’t have to come from the big cities up north, and an enthusiastic non-profit organization is laying the groundwork to prove as much.
NPO Hito Project’s Robot Summer School Some here argue that an unforeseen byproduct of Japan’s long-running economic success, fueled in no small part by robotic manufacturing and industrial automation, has been the atrophy of practical, everyday physical problem solving skills. In a strange irony, the machines that helped propel Japan to an economic powerhouse have obviated the need for mechanical know-how among the nation’s youth. The NPO Hito Project wants to plug this gap and make sure that Japanese kids are not just playing with robot toys, but building them – and taking the practical know-how and basic principles into higher levels of education and eventually the workforce.
Robot Summer School (“robotto suh-muhh skuu-ru,” for those who appreciate Japanese pronunciation!) is currently held in three municipalities in the Kumamoto metro area. According to the Hito Project’s program coordinator Mr. Maehara, on Saturday, June 1st, 24 students aged 9-12 began a 4-hour robotics, engineering, and programming session in coastal Uto City. Another 4-hour class was held the following Saturday. Next were the Kumamoto City classes, this time with 39 students aged 9-15. Again, 8 hours spread across two consecutive Saturdays. Last weekend saw the first class for 16 students aged 9-15 in quite rural Kōshi City. With the completion of Kōshi City’s second class, the Robot Summer School will wrap up this Saturday.
In conducting the standard theory-to-programming-to-hardware courses, the Hito Project provides various iterations of the tried, tested, and well-liked and reviewed Lego MINDSTORMS robotics kits to each team of 2-3 students. And really, any kid who ends up at Robot Summer School is going to be hip to Legos. The only real problem with Legos is when you’re building something awesome and you run out of Legos.
This year marks the 5th anniversary of Robot Summer School, its widest reach, and the highest enrollment yet. Most grade schools and junior high schools, even here in robo-friendly Japan, don’t going to have the time, resources, expertise – and frankly, the vision – to teach these subjects. But in just one month, the Hito Project will have provided nearly 80 young minds 8 intensive hours of hands-on robotics, engineering, and programming training (jump over here for some great photos of the kids at work).
Oh, and one more thing: it’s free.
Governmental organizations chip in, sponsors donate classroom space and funds for robotics kits, high school students participate and help out, and college students contribute their time as instructors and mentors. The model is really quite simple, and highly exportable. Take motivated and qualified teachers, a small investment in equipment, a little bit of marketing, and POW! The fundamentals of robotics, engineering, and programming – delivered to the brains of the youth.
Or the brains of 30- and 40-somethings. Because come on, who doesn’t want to learn how to build Lego robots?!
Skills for the Revolution What will these kids do with the knowledge they’ve gained at the Hito Project’s Robot Summer School here in rural southern Japan? Who knows – perhaps they’ll design robotic farming equipment (southern Japan needs it – 50% of farmers are over 60 years old).
Realistically, most of the Robot Summer School students won’t end up in robotics-specific careers, but they will have gained not only a basic knowledge of robotics systems at the physical and software levels, but also invaluable problem-solving logic and mechanical aptitude. Who among us, at any age, couldn’t use more of that?
The global resurgence of all things robotic has been likened to the rise of the personal computer or even the DotCom Revolution, but this time, we’re really paying attention – we see it coming, and we’re getting ready.
The Hito Project is all-in, and they’re taking action. How’s your community doing?
• • •
Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
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.
• • •
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.
• • •
Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Ahhh, Switzerland. Not only Europe’s centralized hub for chocolate, cheese, watches, banking, and international apolitical neutrality (so lucky), the nation also boasts two of the finest science and engineering schools on the planet. Naturally, that begets robots, and on Monday, the EPFL begat a cat: the Cheetah-Cub.
• • •
So, the Swiss Have Awesome Robots? Totally, but for most, when thinking about top robot labs & makers, the mind goes quickly toward DARPA-funded work, MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Virginia Tech, Honda, Tokyo and/or Osaka Universities, KAIST, etc. So maybe the Swiss just aren’t awesome at marketing, because the country actually is the geographical locus of robotics development in Europe, and its two big tech schools conduct research in no fewer than 6 disciplines each – here, look:
“Yet Another Highly Advanced Robot from Switzerland” Not an overly common news headline, but probably should be.
Cheetah-Cub from EPFL The Cheetah-Cub comes from the Biorobotics Laboratory at the French speaking École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in southern Switzerland (that’s the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, for those unable or unwilling to do the linguistic math).
Cheetah-Cub walks with the elastic, hoppity, distinct gait of the common house cat – and it’s fast for a robot of its size. Based on meticulous observation and reverse engineering, it’s legs were designed with springs and actuators to mimic the biomechanics of feline legs (also at comparable size & weight).
It’s a durable, inexpensive, easy to produce research platform that the team hopes will lead to small machines more closely approximating the physical dexterity of meat-based cats. Eventually they might assist with rescue and exploration efforts.
Of course, the shot of the engineer “walking” Cheetah-Cub brings up the question, but so far there’s no word on plans for a pet version. Again, that marketing issue… maybe it just isn’t in the Swiss cultural toolhouse. They should get on that (hire France or Germany, perhaps?), because a project to develop a non-shedding, non meowing, non-excreting pet/toy cat with an off button could make a lot of people happy (and probably get funding).
Alright, that’s a wrap – and not one lame “always lands on its feet” jab in the whole piece. Success!
AIBO Addendum: In this context, one would be remiss to not mention the super-advanced, inexcusably canceled AIBO. What could more appropriately give Cheetah-Cub a chase? It’s true, the Saddest Robots in Japan Live Among the Sins of Sony.
• • •
Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
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.
Among several areas of practice, ASIMO is learning how to focus as much attention as possible on the largest concentration of people, just as a squishy human would – but it’s of course far from perfect. And expecting perfection is entirely unreasonable, because even among us squishy humans, how many individual gestures and screen-entered commands could we perfectly interpret and then react accordingly whilst under fire from so many people?![Japanese Science & Engineering: The Vexing Conundrum of Women [WORKING]](https://i0.wp.com/www.akihabaranews.com/wp-content/uploads/images/0/60/135760/1.jpg?fit=300%2C300)
![Japanese Robots: Yaskawa Goes to China; Shudder the Labor Market [WORKING]](https://i0.wp.com/www.akihabaranews.com/wp-content/uploads/images/6/56/135756/1.jpg?fit=300%2C300)
