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Banryu, Robot Or Dragon?

Posted by timothy on from the dr.-no-was-way-ahead-of-this-guy dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "When Yoichi Takamoto, president of the small Japanese company Tmsuk, decided to build a robotic guard for your house, he was not able to use the familiar design of a dog. The idea was already taken by Sony, with its successful Aibo. Instead, he decided to develop the Banryu (or "guard dragon") robots. After all, nobody has ever seen a real dragon. So he was free to design it as he wished. The result is a scary robot which is 90 centimeters tall, weighs 35 kilograms, has more than 50 built-in sensors and can transmit an alarm to its master's cell phone if someone tries to invade the house. It doesn't come cheap. The price is about $18,000, but you can choose between five colors. The Asahi Shimbun tells us the story, while this overview includes several pictures of the frightening dragon." This is scary?

5 of 259 comments (clear)

  1. The word "Dragon" might be misleading... by Avaclon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Considering that the word Dragon in Japan is Ryu, which is also used in reference to Dinosaurs. In Asia, the words for dinosaurs are also dragon. It makes much more sense that the ryu used in this case is referring the robot as a dinosaur, not a dragon.

    Besides, it looks like a Stegosaurus to me.

  2. Re:Tachikoma? by Smidge204 · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's not just you. Especially from the front view!

    I'd rather have a Tachikoma, though... unless this thing can be fitted with a flamethrower... hmm.
    =Smidge=

  3. Same company that made "Enryu" mentioned before by Takuryu · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is the same company that developed "Enryu" which was mentioned on /. a while back: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/11/141524 5&mode=thread

  4. Re:What a waste of time and energy by thinkninja · · Score: 4, Informative

    Realdolls are apparently freakishly realistic.

    Registration required? Google cached it anyway.

    --
    "The number of Unix installations has grown to ten, with more expected." (Unix Programmer's Manual, 2nd ed.; june 1972)
  5. As further evidence ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Considering that the English lettering on the side (not visible unless you find the Flash movie of the thing) says "Neo-Dinosaur," I'd say you're right. Nice "Japanese fact of the day," by the way.