Tuesday, February 26, 2008

TECHHYPE: Rise Robots Rise

They're coming, folks, ready or not. In all shapes and sizes, including ours, the robots are rising to inevitably take over the world. No doubt they will enslave us all. Thanks a lot, Honda, Toyota, Sanrio and the rest of you maniacs.











From Kokoro Company Ltd, a division of Sanrio Group, comes "Actroid":

This robot has developed to recreate the human-like natural yet charming expressions with high functionalities retained. Emphasizes on its own realistic presence with smooth gestures. It has news hooks and high eye-catching effects. It can be utilized to play active part for many occasions as a chairperson with fluent narrations and booth bunny.

Actroid DER page at Kokoro (includes movies)
Available for rent!









Humanoid Robot HRP2 "Promet" at Kawada Industries (with videos)

The external appearance of HRP-2 was designed by Mr. Yutaka Izubuchi, a mechanical animation designer famous for his robots that appear in Japanese anime, including the well-known "PATLABOR." Mr. Izubuchi also named HRP-2 "Promet."

HRP-2 will be used for experiments to further develop robotic technologies in the areas of "walking on uneven surfaces," "tipping-over control," "getting up from a fallen position," and "human-interactive operations in open spaces."

HRP-2's height is 154 cm and mass is 58 kg including batteries. It has 30 degrees of freedom (DOF) including two DOF for its hip. The cantilevered crotch joint allows for walking in a confined area. Its highly compact electrical system packaging allows it to forgo the commonly used "backpack" used on other humanoid robots.






















Toyota Partner Robot




CB2 the creepy "child-bot"


Dancing RoboCats



















Aaaahhh!!! They're attacking!












This robot, thankfully, is still in development.

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