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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."

24 of 89 comments (clear)

  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 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
    2. 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.

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      -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.

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  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....

  5. 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.
  6. 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

  7. "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.
  8. 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.
  9. Meanwhile... by hobotron · · Score: 5, Funny

    another robot mimicking humans was unavailable for comment

    --
    There is truth in humor.
  10. 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.

  11. 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.

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    flinging poop since 1969
  12. 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

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    Nothing can be done before the tremendous power!
    RabidComics
  13. 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.

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    flinging poop since 1969
  14. 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.

  15. 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.

  16. 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 :)

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

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

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    There is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men. -- Boondock Saints
  18. 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.
  19. Some photographs by salke · · Score: 2, Informative
  20. Very realistic android by numLocked · · Score: 2, Informative

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