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Robots Put on Show at World Robot Expo in Japan

rjelks writes "The World Robot Expo is going on right now in Japan. The exhibition is displaying prototypes of robots that draw, dance and mimic humans. Developers believe that growth in the robotics industry will grow rapidly in the coming decade. They hope that soon robots will become a common occurrence in our homes."

89 comments

  1. you keep dreaming of robots in the home by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny


    and i'll keep dreaming about flying cars and silver suits

    1. Re:you keep dreaming of robots in the home by The_Mystic_For_Real · · Score: 1
      I think those visions of the future are a fine barometer of what society is interested in seeing in the future. These crack pipe visions of the future provide a goal for the application of science that is in the distance. After 50 years robots in the home are getting closer to a reality. It seems that flying cars, in the form of passenger rockets and very fast jets are still on the distant horizon, but they seem possible.

      Silver suits, well, I'm sure rappers are share your dream and are getting closer with every album sold.

      --

      _____

      Thank you.

    2. Re:you keep dreaming of robots in the home by Rei · · Score: 3, Funny

      Come on, how do flying cars compare to having your own grammar robot to correct you when you use grammar not good?

      --
      "This wallpaper is killing me. One of us has got to go." -- Oscar Wilde on his deathbed
    3. Re:you keep dreaming of robots in the home by enginuitor · · Score: 1
      "Come on, how do flying cars compare to having your own grammar robot to correct you when you use grammar not good?"
      Ironically, your grammar was technically correct.
    4. Re:you keep dreaming of robots in the home by BFaucet · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I have a Roomba. It's a robot and in my home. w00t!

      And I'll keep dreaming of a computer millions of times as powerful as the eniac that'll fit in a small box and will be common place in homes.

      --
      -Derick
  2. Robots Put on Show at World Robot Expo in Japan!! by sonoluminescence · · Score: 4, Funny

    No way!

    Robots! at a robot expo!

    What is the world coming too?

    vv

    --
    Karma: Bad. Calmer, good.
  3. Um by antifoidulus · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's not "World Robot Expo", it's just the "World Expo", they are showing off plenty of things besides robots.

    1. Re:Um by Aaron+Pannell · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, I for one welcome our new robotic overlords.

      --
      "We can't stop here! This is bat country."
    2. Re:Um by Orinthe · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually, it's a robotics exposition held at/during EXPO/Aichi Expo/ Aichi Exposition of Global Harmony. It's a World's Fair.

      I was living in Aichi prefecture for 6 months prior to it--you can't live anywhere near the region and not know it, the merchandising was incessant. Unfortunately, I left Japan just a few weeks before it began. :( I'm hoping to head back within the next month so I can go (it lasts until September).

      I especially want to find out about the Linear Express, the latest Japanese bullet train--it's a maglev train that will travel 570KPH from OsakaKyotoNagoyaTokyo (or something like that). Even the newest "Nozomi" class shinkansen bullet trains only travel something like 170KPH... less than impressive.

      --
      SELECT quote.text AS sig FROM quote NATURAL JOIN attribute WHERE attribute.description = 'witty';
      0 rows returned
    3. Re:Um by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually I was just on the Shinkansen today and the top speed reached was 285km/h. Pretty impressive to me, especially considering the trains back home, in Canada, go maybe 140km/h max. The Shinkansen is an amazing way to travel, quick, convenient, relatively inexpensive, I wish rail companies in North America could be even half as inspired. Also if you're planning on going to the expo think twice. It's mostly huge crowds, big hype, and lots of merchandising.

  4. Now /.'ers can have their own robo girlfriend! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    As seen on engadget!

    http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000563046382/

    Of couse, the linux crowd would make theirs out of duct tape and plastic....

    1. Re:Now /.'ers can have their own robo girlfriend! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Old stuff

      Cherry 2000 http://imdb.com/title/tt0092746/

      Also starring a pre-Matrix Laurence Fishburne.

  5. Ha ha by ROFLMAObot · · Score: 1, Funny

    I guess we can expect some futurama-esque showgirl robots. That would probably lead to a to-be-popular robot genre of pornography. Ha ha.

    1. Re:Ha ha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would probably lead to a to-be-popular robot genre of pornography.

      This is Japan we're talking about here, just give them time. ::shudder::

  6. Robotics, the new "Bubble"? by mrkitty · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Within the next 10 years or so we'll start to see a big boom in R&D in countries like India and China with Technologies relating to computer systems. America will soon find itself 'competing' agressively with these countries due to the low costs of running a buisness. For the past few years robotics have agressively developed and will probably end up being the next 'big thing'. Of course the US will jump on board. Could this be the next 'Bubble'?

    --
    Believe me, if I started murdering people, there would be none of you left.
  7. Common occurance ... maybe not.. by guyfromindia · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They hope that soon robots will become a common occurrence in our homes
    Woah! hang on... buddies..
    For example

    Tennoji High School in Osaka, central Japan, will receive 50 million yen (US$460,000; euro376,000) over three years in government money meant to produce technological whiz kids.

    Japan has budgeted 1.3 billion yen (US$12 million; euro9.8 million) a year for the program, splitting the money between 82 high schools, which are using their grants to focus on rocket engineering, genetics and solar energy.

    If other countries too follow Japan, by giving importance to education, well, maybe Robots will be a 'common occurance' soon...
    my 2c

    1. Re:Common occurance ... maybe not.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Woah! hang on... buddies..

      Where's the +1, Subtle Knight Rider Reference mod option when you need it?

  8. "Draw, Dance, And Mimic"?? by John+Hasler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    > They hope that soon robots will become a common
    > occurrence in our homes.

    I don't think there is a big market for robots that draw, dance, and mimic humans. I could use one that would clean stalls, though.

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    1. Re:"Draw, Dance, And Mimic"?? by Al+Mutasim · · Score: 1

      The high-profile Japanese robotics efforts seem focused on "cute" designs, such as QRIO, AIBO, Wakamaru, ASIMO, and so forth. The successful recent U.S. efforts, such as Roomba, PackBot, Talon, and Da Vinci, tend to be uncute but useful. There is a decided cultural difference.

  9. When will these robots actually be useful? by CyricZ · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Every decade we hear that robots will be commonly used within the house within the next decade. And then another decade passes, and we're still not using robots. I'm sure the technology will eventually arive, but maybe we should let things run their course. Instead of promising that they'll be popular within x many years or decades, let's just say they will be popular someday.

    --
    Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
    1. Re:When will these robots actually be useful? by Al+Mutasim · · Score: 1

      I think there are signs that robots are coming to the home for real this time. Take iRobot's Roomba, with 1.2 million units sold. If there is already a solid (though admittedly not overwhelming) market for a wandering, vacuuming robot, can, say a wandering lawn-mowing robot be that far off? Or a vacuuming robot that does more than wander? It's a sign.

    2. Re:When will these robots actually be useful? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The use of robots has never been practical. Robots generally require two components: energy, and AI. Energy is still a very big problem. Our battery technology has not improved much since the first batteries were invented. It's worse when it comes to rechargables. AI is improving, and by AI, it includes things like object detection and locomotion. As processors become faster and cheaper, AI becomes more sophisticated. But a more powerful AI requires more energy.

      This is primarily why the classical robot from the 50's is not yet reality. Then, there's the infeasibility of modeling after living creatures. That's the other bottleneck that's slowly being overcome.

  10. they do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...bash.org

  11. after having RTFA by djdavetrouble · · Score: 1

    let me be the first to say, THAT LINK SUCKED.
    no robot pictures.
    no robot movies.
    just 2 stupid ass looking robots playing trumpets.

    --
    music lover since 1969
    1. Re:after having RTFA by Vorondil28 · · Score: 1

      Wow.
      Yeah, I second that.

      --
      This sig rocks the casbah.
    2. Re:after having RTFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You RTFA'd? What the hell is wrong with the world!

    3. Re:after having RTFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You didn't RTFA. You looked at it. No pretty pictures? Boo hoo. Grow up.

      Oh wait.... slashdot. Right.

    4. Re:after having RTFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you sir, are an ass. who died and made you king grump of grumpy hollow.? A robot story should have cool robot pictures. And the article sucked as well. Biz natch.

  12. They're here! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now, where is that one chick when you need her?

  13. Meanwhile... by hobotron · · Score: 5, Funny

    another robot mimicking humans was unavailable for comment

    --
    There is truth in humor.
  14. Silly robots by Mspangler · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't need a dancing robot, or a drawing robot. I need a fruit picking robot. Strawberries, raspberries, cherries, apples, etc.

    A weed pulling robot sounds good too. If it can tell a pigweed from a cucumber, there is a market for it.

    Just our luck humans end up with the field work, and the robots end up sitting on their ass spewing Vogon-class poetry, and telling us the reason we don't like it is our lack of a classical education.

    1. Re:Silly robots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dancing feature is not important at all.

      You and many slashdotters failed to see the message it has. Companies in most of the countries around the world, including US, won't be able to manage this level of interactions between human and robot. I can see we have few things to enable it.

      Realize our great United States up to.

    2. Re:Silly robots by janwedekind · · Score: 1

      Maybe you should ask the robot to draw a picture with all the weed being highlighted in red ;)

  15. lol RBJs by ROFLMAObot · · Score: 0

    How can a robot play a trumpet? How can a robot blow? Lightbulb! Robot blowjobs anyone?

  16. Robots & Chinese Military by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Currently, China is engaged in an aggressive campaign to modernize its military. The World Expo has some technologies that may help to accelerate this modernization. We in the West should ban the Chinese from the World Expo.

  17. MOD PARENT UP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jebus don't you moderators know comedy when you see it? No, it's not a joke about Linux or Apple zealots, so of course they won't give it any points. Idiots...

    1. Re:MOD PARENT UP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually if you scroll up someone already got this joke in... but it's not been moded either. Travesty.

  18. Robot Art by WordNA · · Score: 1

    What sort of things will a household robot be able to draw? Will they draw what they see through a digital camera and run an algorithm that makes it look like it was hand drawn?
    Will it have a database of (boring) things to draw?
    Maybe fractals.

    Maybe it can draw Pr0n? Though i doubt it'd be terribly imaginative... Robot: I have drawn you something You: Wow, another square. Great...

    1. Re:Robot Art by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I read a book about 3 years ago about an artist that wrote computer programs that created drawings. The illustrations were fairly good perspective line drawings of the system's own designs. It used an X-Y plotter to make them and some had color callouts for the artist to colorize them.

      Sorry but I cannot find the book nor remember the artist's name.

  19. But it is how you lose customer trust. by CyricZ · · Score: 1

    You may get increased funding for making wild claims, but unless such claims are backed up with real improvements, you will do nothing but lose trust. Trust of the investors, customers, and even your peers. Hollow claims are no match for delivering results.

    --
    Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
  20. Wait, I miss the point of this... by internetjunkiegeorge · · Score: 1

    function movelefthandindexfingertopjoint {movingmechanicspiece(342445);} function movelefthandindexfingermiddlejoint {movingmechanicspiece(342444);} Wait, aren't robots supposed to save time by doing this for us?

  21. I was there yesterday by howman · · Score: 4, Informative

    I saw a number of robots during my 5+ hrs at EXPO and hope to actually get into the Toyota pavillion (130min wait time)to see their song and dance routine when I go again tomorrow.

    The ones I saw included a tour guide robot that was, if you can imagine, like one of those old dime store fortune tellers except it looked like a japanese real doll (tm) flight attendant done up in a lime green suit and hat. You could ask it for directions to venues using voice command (japanese only of course) and it would give you verbal directions. With my piss poor understanding of Japanese, I could not make out if it was giving the right answers or not, but the voice seemed like a pre recorded message. I guess the thing did not understand, or had difficulty with background noise as quite often people would have to repeat their questions a few times, slower and closer to the mic which was basically a mesh ball mounted to the counter in front of the robot.
    It's movements were for lack of a better word, robotic and they didn't do the skin very well as it looked like satin silicon. It did do decent facial expressions while it was talking and from the looks on peoples faces, i guess it did a good job of matching facial experessions to dialogue. Again there was about a 20 min wait to get to try it out.

    Another one I did see was in front of the India pavillion and it was what you would expect a robot to look like from the sixties all shiny red plastic and black lexan. It had a huge bubble head and arms of a sort that moved slightly. This one too would give you directions of a sort and answer a few other questions as well as respond to people's proximity and stop moving if you were very close so you could have your picture taken with it. There was an attendant minding it to help people in it's usage and to keep kids from climbing aboard for a free ride as it ws on wheels and moved very slowly around what I imagine was a pre defined path although I could not see any magnetic tape on the ground or a remote in the attendants hand.

    --
    flinging poop since 1969
    1. Re:I was there yesterday by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Another one I did see was in front of the India pavillion and it was what you would expect a robot to look like from the sixties all shiny red plastic and black lexan. "

      That was a replica of Red Ronin. In the stories he was built by Drs. Hashioka and Takiguchi to capture Godzilla (ser.6; vol.8)

  22. Robot Expo? Eek! by Rei · · Score: 1

    Well, whatever you do, don't take Grandma. If you must, at all costs, keep her away from the stairs!

    --
    "This wallpaper is killing me. One of us has got to go." -- Oscar Wilde on his deathbed
  23. Not a world ROBOT expo by jdubois79 · · Score: 3, Informative

    It should be noted that the Aichi World Expo is not a Robot Expo, but a Energy Conservation Expo.

    It also showcases the latest technology from many major Japanese companies.

    The Expo Site, in English

    --
    --------
    Nothing can be done before the tremendous power!
    RabidComics
    1. Re:Not a world ROBOT expo by knickerbocker · · Score: 1

      Not an Energy Conservation Expo. It is what we commonly call the World's Fair. I believe the next one is scheduled for 2008 and will be held in Spain.

  24. The official brochure... by mikael · · Score: 1

    ... can be found here.
    Probably the most unhuman looking robot is the ACM-R5, which is basically a snake design with a camera for the head. Just add some poison darts/fangs, and WestWorld will become reality.

    --
    Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  25. Re:I want my Gundam, dammit! by ian+rogers · · Score: 0, Troll

    Gundam is for gays.

    ps mods - this is informative, not flamebait.

  26. Semi-Dupe by Kerhop · · Score: 0

    of this article.

  27. I made a drawing robot back in 93. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you kids got it easy.

    When I was younger, I had to code that stuff in Quick C on a '286 pc that only had floppy drives. It was hooked to a CRS robotic arm which I sent move commands via a serial port. We didn't have 'digital cameras' back then, we had to hook a NTSC camera to a matrox framegrabber card and manually do the DMA transfers into memory.
    The vision system was a 255x256 MONO frikkencrhome, and I had to write my own automatic thresholding routine and it all had to run in under 640k of ram.

    Kids these days got it easy.

  28. Theme by howman · · Score: 2, Informative

    The theme of the EXPO is enviornment so all of the country pavillions are geared towards that, but the robots are mostly if not all part of the corporate pavilions which include Toyota, Hitachi, Mitsui-Toshiba among others. But even theirs are geared towards the theme and how their technology improved the enviornment.

    --
    flinging poop since 1969
  29. Robot Rooter... by mjfgates · · Score: 2, Interesting

    All of the things that I'd really want a robot for, it would get dirty quickly, and then get grit inside it, and then skizkeewunchgktktklllghh...

    Which is a silly way to put it, but a real issue: before you can have a robot in every home, you have to have a robot that can OPERATE in a home, for something like a year, with no maintenance. Anything less and there just wouldn't be a point.

    1. Re:Robot Rooter... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah especially in your shitty little basement with all those empty soda cans and crumpled up tissues all over the floor..

    2. Re:Robot Rooter... by mjfgates · · Score: 1

      Soda cans? TISSUES? Oh, I wish. I've got a four-year-old. I know how many square inches of carpet one strawberry can completely soak with pulp and juice when it's thoroughly stomped in by little feet.

  30. in other news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Linux is still for fags.

    1. Re:in other news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe you could have avoided the inevitable modding down for a little longer if you had said, "according to Netcraft."

  31. They live in their own little world... by derEikopf · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Until they can figure out some way to make humanoid robots BETTER than humans (which is a LONG way off), nobody's going to buy them except as novelties.

  32. "robots that draw, dance and mimic humans" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    but will they write a good post on /.?

    "Developers believe that growth in the robotics industry will grow rapidly in the coming decade."

  33. Gangsta Rabbit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  34. Robot bullshit by shoolz · · Score: 2, Funny

    Call me when this is a reality:

    Leave it to Roll-oh (Worth every second of your time for a great laugh)

    I expect my +1 funny mods when the genrally-painful archive.org download completes. I'd go into more deatil in this post if the 'punchline' wasn't worth the mystique :)

  35. Title is incorrect. by Fallingcow · · Score: 1

    Should read:

    Robots Put on Show at World Robot Expo... in Japan!

    1. Re:Title is incorrect. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Soviet Japan, World Robot Expo Put on Show at Robots!

  36. Obligatory Simpsons by The+Hobo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Mobsters: Shut uppa you face Linguo: Shut up your face

    --
    There is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men. -- Boondock Saints
    1. Re:Obligatory Simpsons by MrCopilot · · Score: 1
      Linguo? Dead?

      Linguo is dead.

      --
      OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
  37. Re:Robots Put on Show at World Robot Expo in Japan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm still having trouble with "growth [...] will grow".

  38. lawnmower by JanneM · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Autonomous wandering lawnmowers have been for sale for years already. Here's one example:

    http://www.electrolux.se/node141.asp

    --
    Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
    1. Re:lawnmower by Al+Mutasim · · Score: 1

      True, robotic mowers have been around for while--but the number sold is low, tens of thousands instead of millions.

  39. Glitch-related "spasms" by bitrex · · Score: 1

    "But given Q1's reported glitch-related 'spasms' at the expo, it may be a while before androids are escorting tour groups or looking after children"

    For some reason I'm picturing a female Japanese robot in a pink blazer with shoulderpads, spinning and flailing around on the floor like Pris after Deckard caps her in Blade Runner.

  40. Re:Robotics, the new "Bubble"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No ... because unlike the "field" of IT, actually working in robotics requires some level of intelligence, so that not everyone and their mom will be jumping on board.

  41. Some photographs by salke · · Score: 2, Informative
  42. Very realistic android by numLocked · · Score: 2, Informative

    Engadget has just posted this article. Very creepy realistic android.

  43. Re:I For One... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I saw the "I for one welcome our..." jokes yesterday and it got a score 4: funny and JUST NOW, is it marked for being redundant?

    Come on people... this is Slashdot, home of the rejected bash quotes!

  44. That Growing Growth by michaeltaft · · Score: 1

    The editor in me can't resist: "Developers believe that the robotics industry will grow rapidly in the coming decade."

  45. Real Soon Now, eh? by Caspian · · Score: 1
    They hope that soon robots will become a common occurrence in our homes.


    Yeah, and "they" (whoever "they" might be) have been saying this since, what, 1950?

    Give me a fucking break already. Unless they define "robot" as "Roomba" (or similar extremely simple single-purpose devices that only qualify as "robots" by the most generic of textbook definitions), this ain't happenings.

    Wake me when "they" are done with this pie-in-the-sky bullshit on the topic of "robots in the home". That, or when they have my flying car ready for me. Or my disease-curing nanites. Or my personal spacecraft. Or...
    --
    With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
  46. Ballroom dance robot by FleaPlus · · Score: 1

    One of the really neat robots at the expo that I read about was a ballroom dance robot. There were articles on it at CNN and Yahoo. Basically, as it dances it matches the upper body movements of a human partner, sort of like what happens in real ballroom dancing.

    It reminded me of research by an MIT student last year on swing dancing robots. Clever haptic interfaces are cool.

  47. Hi Hi! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yaoi! I am a talking garbage can. I love you throw trash in me. wash with sope and waddre. I like fetus and poop. Give me food, 7 day all long. Bye!

    Show me a jap, and I'll show you a light-skinned pasty NIGGER with a fetish for long-dicked felion blue-haired big-eyed under-age super-model schoolgirls raped by tentacle monsters, swords, and oh yes -- Robots that want peace and not war and to procreate with the lesser beings.

    I hate the Hi Hi Puffi Umi Yami Show. I can' tstand to listen to any Japanese metal rock -- worst. music. evar.

  48. Is That a Good Thing? by MSTCrow5429 · · Score: 1
    "They hope that soon robots will become a common occurrence in our homes."

    Yes, as they break down the door with their augmented fists and we hide in vain in the bathroom from the robotic onslaught of death.

    --
    Slashdot: Playing Favorites Since 1997
  49. They are already here if you believe dumb sales by tod_miller · · Score: 1

    Really, the 'Ironing Robot'? They should be ashamed. I actually saw on of these at my local elecronics store.

    Large hair dryer != robot, even if you place a shirt on it to be 'ironed'.

    Anthropomorphic devices are robots. Ginger bread men are not robots.

    What is a robot? Go google it yer lazies. Something about moving around, sensors... blah.

    --
    #hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
  50. Re:Robots Put on Show at World Robot Expo in Japan by Animus+Moth · · Score: 1

    Where are the Robot rights associations? Shouldn't these poor robots have the right to a decent life? Are we back to the time where people were displayed on fairs and circus !?

  51. Re:Robots Put on Show at World Robot Expo in Japan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But it isn't a robot expo. It's the World Expo.

    Expo 2000 (Humankind, Nature, Technology) was in Hannover, Germany.
    Expo 2005 (Nature's Wisdom) is in Aichi, Japan.
    Expo 2008 (Water and the Sustainable Development of cities) will be in Zaragoza, Spain.
    Expo 2010 (Better City, Better Life) will be in Shanghai, China.

  52. I want to hear toyota's robot band by chocolatetrumpet · · Score: 1

    anyone know of a recording?

    --
    Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
  53. Might not be all good news... by smimi10 · · Score: 1

    I wrote a little about this here , but you should also check out Marshall Brain's Robotic Nation essays for more. It might not be all good news for a rapid rise of robotic technologies. Espcially if the socio-economic factors aren't taken into consideration from the beginning.

  54. hmmm by Danzigism · · Score: 0

    as impressive as these robots may be, it still seems the intelligence is based merely off of "IF" "THEN" statements in which then are stored in memory so they remember what to do when another similar event occurs.. i want to see more AI software being developed for the computer..

    --
    *plays the Apogee theme song music*