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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."
It's not "World Robot Expo", it's just the "World Expo", they are showing off plenty of things besides robots.
Monstar L
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
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
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Nothing can be done before the tremendous power!
RabidComics
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
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/tc/111104ro bots;_ylt=AhwOlTbN8ZcRHXr8xUZOHDpk24cA;_ylu=X3oDMT A3bGk2OHYzBHNlYwN0bXA-/Here are some really cool photographs from the event.
Engadget has just posted this article. Very creepy realistic android.