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Robo sapiens: Japan

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  • Many Japanese roboticists were inspired as a child by Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy), a popular Japanese cartoon about a futuristic robot boy who helps human beings (here, it is a 15-centimeter Astro Boy action figure). Astro Boy, drawn in the 1950's, will soon be the star of a major motion picture. In the story line, his birthdate is in April of 2003. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 197.
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  • With government-funded construction clogging roadways throughout Japan, traffic robots like this one have become increasingly common. Standing in the Tokyo restaurant supply district, this artificial policeman politely raises and lowers its arm to slow down approaching vehicles. Anzen Taro (Safety Sam), are full 3-D mock-ups of policemen so realistic that oncoming drivers can't tell them from the real thing. Although the makers of these machines describe their products as "robots," many engineers would not, because they do not respond to their environment and cannot be reprogrammed. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 170-171.
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  • In Osaka, Japan, battery-powered robots?called Anzen Taro (Safety Sam) are used to control traffic. Robots like this one are becoming more common in Japan around government funded construction sites. These three dimensional robots can often be mistaken for real traffic guards.
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  • Ten years and tens of millions of dollars in the making, the Honda P3 strides down its course at the car company's secret research facility on the outskirts of Tokyo, Japan. The product of a costly decade-long effort, the Honda robotic project was only released from its shroud of corporate secrecy in 1996. In a carefully choreographed performance, P3 walks a line, opens a door, turns a corner, and, after a safety chain is attached, climbs a flight of stairs. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 34-35.
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  • Deftly opening a door, the Honda P3 walks its assigned path at the Honda Research Center, outside Tokyo, Japan. The product of a costly decade-long effort, the Honda robotic project was only released from its shroud of corporate secrecy in 1996. In a carefully choreographed performance, P3 walks a line, opens a door, turns a corner, and, after a safety chain is attached, climbs a flight of stairs. Despite its mechanical sophistication, it can't respond to its environment. If people were to step in its way, the burly robot would knock them down without noticing them. Ultimately, of course, Honda researchers hope to change that. But, in what seems an attempt to hedge the company's bet, P3 senior engineer Masato Hirose is also working on sending the robot to places where it cannot possibly injure anyone. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 42.
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  • Utterly ignoring the safety chain attached to the base of its "neck," the Honda P3 confidently walks down a flight of steps in the company lab. More than a decade ago, at the beginning of the Honda project, the research team concluded that their robot would have to be able to walk, rather than simply roll on wheels. Wheeled robots, they decided, just couldn't function in a contemporary home full of stairs, toy-strewn floors, thick pile rugs, and other obstacles. Today P3 can walk with impressive smoothness. The only real sign of its robotic nature is the way it begins to walk with a little knee-dip, to compensate for the absence of a pelvis. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 44.
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  • Lights from futuristic concept cars reflecting in the shiny column behind his head, Honda P3 chief engineer Masato Hirose has been entrusted with the transportation company's hopes of getting beyond wheels. Tokyo, Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 45.
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  • ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility), is the newest addition to the Honda Humanoid Robot family. It is on display daily at Suzuka City Circuit, where young and old converge to watch racing, ride amusement park rides, and also watch this child-sized robot introduced by a beauty queen walk, wave, and dance four times daily. The press literature for ASIMO states "By helping people, and becoming their partners, Honda robots are opening the door to the 21st Century." Honda R&D expects that "ASIMO will help improve life in human society.".
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  • Though tentative at first, brother and sister Taichi (3, at left) and Shino (5) warm up to the robot ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) and agree to stand close enough to get a good look at the small stature robot after a performance at Suzuka City, Japan. Honda's walking robot, called ASIMO, is child-sized and has more maneuverability than it's predecessor, the Honda P3. Pictured here at Suzuka City, Japan, amusement complex..
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  • In Suzuka City, Japan, ASIMO, (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility), a humanoid robot designed by Honda stands with the Suzuka Circuit Queen, and waves to the audience. Honda's walking robot, is child-sized and has more maneuverability than it's predecessor, the Honda P3. Unlike the P3, which couldn't be stopped once it began it's programmed routine, ASIMO can be controlled by either joystick or computer program. Pictured here at Suzuka City (a race track and amusement park), Japan.
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  • In a situation all too familiar to robotics researchers, Atsuo Takanishi (on right) is trying to make his creation work. His research team's robot, WE-3RIII (Waseda Eye Number 3 Refined Version III) can follow a light with its digital-camera eyes, moving its head if needed. In the laboratory the robot worked perfectly, its movements almost disconcertingly lifelike. But while being installed at a robot exhibit in Tokyo, WE-3RIII inexplicably and violently threw back its head, tearing apart its own wiring. Now Takanishi and one of his students are puzzling over the problem and will solve it only in the early hours of the morning before the exhibit opened. Japan.From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 40-41..
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  • Researchers adjust the mechanism of WE-3RIII, Waseda University's head robot, after it accidentally whiplashed into its own wires. In a situation all too familiar to robotics researchers, Atsuo Takanishi ( hand on right) is trying to make his creation work. His research team's robot, WE-3RIII (Waseda Eye Number 3 Refined Version III) can follow a light with its digital-camera eyes, moving its head if needed. In the laboratory the robot worked perfectly, its movements almost disconcertingly lifelike. But while being installed at a robot exhibit in Tokyo, WE-3RIII inexplicably and violently threw back its head, tearing apart its own wiring. Now Takanishi and one of his students (hand on left) are puzzling over the problem and will solve it only in the early hours of the morning before the exhibit opened. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 233.
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  • First generation face robot from the Hara-Kobayashi Lab in Tokyo. Lit from behind to reveal the machinery beneath the skin. The machinery will change the contours of the robot's skin to create facial expressions. It does this by using electric actuators, which change their shape when an electric current is passed through them. The devices will return to their original shape when the current stops. This robot face was developed at the Laboratory of Fumio Hara and Hiroshi Kobayashi at the Science University, Tokyo, Japan.
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  • Lit from within to reveal the machinery beneath its skin, this second-generation face robot from the Hara-Kobayashi laboratory at the Science University of Tokyo, Japan, has shape-memory actuators that move like muscles creating facial expressions beneath the robot's silicon skin. Made of metal strips that change their shape when an electric current passes through them, the actuators return to their original form when the current stops. The robot head is lit from within by a pencil light strobe cloaked in a yellow gel.From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 77.
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  • First generation face robot from the Hara-Kobayashi Lab in Tokyo. Lit from behind to reveal the machinery beneath the skin. The machinery will change the contours of the robot's skin to create facial expressions. It does this by using electric actuators, which change their shape when an electric current is passed through them. The devices will return to their original shape when the current stops. Unfortunately these actuators proved very slow at returning to their original shape, causing an expression to remain on the face for too long. This robot face was developed at the Laboratory of Fumio Hara and Hiroshi Kobayashi at the Science University, Tokyo, Japan. The robot head is lit from within by a pencil light strobe cloaked in a yellow gel.
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  • Professor Fumio Hara and Assistant Professor Hiroshi Kobayashi's female face robot (second-generation) at Science University of Tokyo, Japan, has shape-memory electric actuators that move beneath the robot's silicon skin to change the face into different facial expressions much as muscles do in the human face. The actuators are very slow to return to their original state and remedying this is one of the research projects facing the Hara and Kobayashi Lab. The robot head is lit from within by a pencil light strobe cloaked in a yellow gel. It was photographed in the neon bill-boarded area of Shinjuku, a section of Tokyo, on a rainy evening at rush hour. Robo sapiens cover image. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species.
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  • Students in the laboratory of Professor Fumio Hara and Hiroshi Kobayashi at Science University of Tokyo work on their various robot projects, including the labs' first generation face robot. This three-dimensional human-like animated pneumatic face robot can recognize human facial expressions as well as produce realistic facial expressions in real time. The animated face robot, covered in latex "skin" is equipped with a CCD camera in the left eye and is able to collect facial image data that is used for on-line recognition of human facial expressions.
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  • Trying to concentrate in a crowded, busy workspace, graduate student Harumi Ayai pats makeup onto the immobile features of a face robot in the Hara-Kobayashi Laboratory. This machine, the first face robot built in the lab, has a single camera in its left eye. Notwithstanding the relative simplicity of its design, the machine was able to smile when people approached it. Although rapidly superseded by later models, the lab went through three generations in a few years, the robot is still being studied. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 78-79.
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  • A work in progress, this still-unnamed face robot can open its eyes and smile. In the future, says its designer, Hidetoshi Akasawa, a mechanical engineering student working on a master's at the Science University of Tokyo, Japan,  it will be able to recognize and react to human facial expressions. This third-generation robot will greet smiles with smiles, frowns with frowns, mixing and matching six basic emotions in a real-time interaction that Hara calls "active human interface." From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 72.
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  • A work in progress, this still-unnamed face robot can open its eyes and smile. In the future, says its designer, Hidetoshi Akasawa, a mechanical engineering student working on a master's at the Science University of Tokyo, Japan,  it will be able to recognize and react to human facial expressions. This third-generation robot will greet smiles with smiles, frowns with frowns, mixing and matching six basic emotions in a real-time interaction that Hara calls "active human interface."
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  • Student Yousuke Kato points to a female face robot created at the Science University of Tokyo, Japan, Fumio Hara Robotics Lab. The female face robot (secondgeneration) has shape-memory electric actuators that move beneath the robots' silicon skin to change the face into different facial expressions much as muscles do in the human face. The research robot undergoes a metamorphosis with each class of students assigned to work on it. The latest iteration allows the robot's face to mold into six different expressions: happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, and surprise. In some images, the computer monitor displays a graphical representation of the software creating the expression on the robot.
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  • Lurching from side to side like an infant figuring out how to walk, the biped-locomotion robot in the Fukuda Lab at Nagoya University tentatively steps forward under the parental supervision of graduate student Kazuo Takahashi. Designed by Toshio Fukuda, a professor of mechanical engineering, the robot is intended to test what Fukuda calls "hierarchical evolutionary algorithms" software that repeats an action, learning from its mistakes until it approaches perfection. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 46-47.
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  • Posing for a portrait at the Osaka  (Japan) University Department of Computer-Controlled Mechanical Systems, Junji Furusho (seated) and research associate Masamichi Sakaguchi show off Strut, their child-sized humanoid robot. At the time, the robot, a work in progress, could not walk at all?it could only stand. (It walked sometime later.) But simply getting the robot to stand properly was a major accomplishment. Like a human being, Strut has such complex, interreacting mechanical "musculature" that considerable processing power is needed simply to keep it erect. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 49.
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  • Looming out of the shadows in the Humanoid Research Lab of Tokyo's Waseda University, WABIAN-RII is capable of walking and even dancing. WABIAN sways from side to side as it walks, but its builders are not discouraged by its imperfections: walking in a straight line, which humans can do without thinking, in fact requires coordinated movements of such fantastic complexity that researchers are pleased if their creations can walk at all. Indeed, researchers built the robot partly to help themselves understand the physics of locomotion. It took decades of work to bring WABIAN to its present state: its first ancestor was built in 1972. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 36.
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  • In a years-long quest, students at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan are constantly tweaking the programming of WABIAN R-II in the hope of making the heavy, two-meter-tall machine walk as easily as a human being. WABIAN sways from side to side as it walks, but its builders are not discouraged by its imperfections: walking in a straight line, which humans can do without thinking, in fact requires coordinated movements of such fantastic complexity that researchers are pleased if their creations can walk at all. Indeed, researchers built the robot partly to help themselves understand the physics of locomotion. It took decades of work to bring WABIAN to its present state: its first ancestor was built in 1972. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 14.
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  • Atsuo Takanishi of the Humanoid Research Laboratory, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, conversing with writer Faith D'Aluisio at his university laboratory. One of the leading researchers at Japan's Waseda University's long-term robotics project, mechanical engineer Atsuo Takanishi studied under the late Ichiro Kato, a robotics pioneer, and superb fundraiser, who made the school into the epicenter of the field. Continuing Kato's emphasis on "biomechatronics", replicating the functions of animals with machines, Takanishi now supervises the research group that produced WABIAN-RII (behind him in photograph). From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 18.
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  • One of the leading researchers at Japan's Waseda University's long-term robotics project, mechanical engineer Atsuo Takanishi studied under the late Ichiro Kato, a robotics pioneer, and superb fundraiser, who made the school into the epicenter of the field. Continuing Kato's emphasis on "biomechatronics", replicating the functions of animals with machines, Takanishi now supervises the research group that produced WABIAN-RII (behind him in photograph). Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 39.
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  • At a robotics exhibition in Tokyo, Japan,  Samuel Setiawan (in white shirt) and two other Waseda University graduate students cautiously stand by during a lengthy prewalk checklist for WABIAN-RII. To their dismay, the robot initially has trouble negotiating the wooden floor, which is much springier than the concrete floor in the lab, where it had been programmed to walk. After some frantic reprogramming, Setiawan, the primary student researcher on the project, is able to make WABIAN walk its assigned path. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 38.
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  • After he removes its skin, Fumio Hara gets the once-over from a face robot in the lab he co-directs with Hiroshi Kobayashi at the Science University of Tokyo, Japan. The first of several face robots made in his lab, it has a CCD camera in its left eye that sends images to neural-network software that recognizes faces and their expressions. Calling upon its repertoire of programmed reactions, it activates the motors and pulleys beneath its flexible skin to produce facial expressions of its own. The project is relatively unusual in its focus, many researchers believe that making robots walk and manipulate objects is so difficult that facial expressions are not yet worth working on. Hara disagrees, arguing that robots with animated faces will communicate with humans much more easily. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 74-75.
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  • The inner workings of the first generation face robot from the Hara-Kobayashi Lab in Tokyo, Japan. The first of several face robots made in Fumio Hara's lab, it has a CCD camera in its left eye that sends images to neural-network software that recognizes faces and their expressions. Calling upon its repertoire of programmed reactions, it activates the motors and pulleys beneath its flexible skin to produce facial expressions of its own. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 4.
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  • Professor Fumio Hara of the Hara and Kobayashi Lab at Science University of Tokyo with his lab's first-generation robot head, without its skin. This three-dimensional human-like animated pneumatic face robot can recognize human facial expressions as well as produce realistic facial expressions in real time. The animated face robot, covered in latex "skin" is equipped with a CCD camera in the left eye and is able to collect facial image data that is used for on-line recognition of human facial expressions. (Draped in white veil by photographer.)
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  • Hanging from a network of cables, Brachiator III quickly swings from "branch" to "branch" like the long-armed ape it was modeled on. (Brachiator refers to "brachiation," moving by swinging from one hold to another.) The robot, which was built in the laboratory of Toshio Fukuda at Nagoya University (Japan), has no sensors on its body. Instead, it tracks its own movements with video cameras located about four meters away. Brightly colored balls attached to the machine help the cameras discern its position. Brachiator's computer, which is adjacent to the camera, takes in the video images of the machine's progress and uses this data to send instructions to the machine's arms and legs. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 87.
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  • By creating a simulacrum of the human eye, the DB project leader and biophysicist Mitsuo Kawato hopes to learn more about human vision. The DB project is funded by the Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO) Humanoid Project and led by independent researcher Mitsuo Kawato. Based at a research facility 30 miles outside of Kyoto, Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 55.
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  • Exemplifying the attempts by Japanese researchers to put a friendly face on their robots, DB's creators are teaching it the Kacha-shi, an Okinawan folk dance. Unlike most robots, DB did not acquire the dance by being programmed. Instead, it observed human dancers?project researchers, actually, and repeatedly attempted to mimic their behavior until it was successful. Project member Stefan Schaal, a neurophysicist at the University of Southern California (in red shirt), believes that by means of this learning process robots will ultimately develop a more flexible intelligence. It will also lead, he hopes, to a better understanding of the human brain. The DB project is funded by the Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO) Humanoid Project and led by independent researcher Mitsuo Kawato. Based at a research facility 30 miles outside of Kyoto, Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 51.
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  • Showing off its dexterity, DB slowly juggles three small round beanbags under the alert supervision of researcher Tomohiro Shibata. The DB project is funded by the Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO) Humanoid Project and led by independent researcher Mitsuo Kawato. Based at a research facility 30 miles outside of Kyoto, Japan, Kowato began work by adapting a robot designed by SARCOS, a Utah robotics company. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 52-53.
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  • DB gazes intently at the camera by means of two pairs of lenses in each "eye." In a configuration increasingly common in humanoid robots, one lens in each pair sharply focuses on the center of the visual field while the other gives a broader perspective. These two points of view, surprisingly, mimic the human eye, which seamlessly blends together information from the fovea centralis, a small area of precise focus in the center of the retina, and the parafovea, a larger, but much less acute area surrounding the fovea. Similarly, DB has a vestibular system in its ears, vestibular systems being the inner-ear mechanisms that people use to balance themselves.  The DB project is funded by the Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO) Humanoid Project and led by independent researcher Mitsuo Kawato. Based at a research facility 30 miles outside of Kyoto, Japan.
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  • Sitting on a mobile motorized cushion he calls a "vuton," Shigeo Hirose of the Tokyo Institute of Technology surrounds himself with some of the robots he has built in the last two decades. Beside him is the snake-bot ACM R-1, one of his earliest projects. It is made of modules, any number of which can be hooked together to produce a mechanical snake that slowly, jerkily undulates down its path. Hirose, who is primarily funded by industry, hopes to develop commercially useful robots; the snake, he thinks, could be useful for inspecting underground pipes. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 88.
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  • At the time, the robot Strut, a work in progress, could not walk at all, it could only stand. (It walked sometime later.) But simply getting the robot to stand properly was a major accomplishment. Like a human being, Strut has such complex, interreacting mechanical "musculature" that considerable processing power is needed simply to keep it erect. Osaka (Japan) University Department of Computer-Controlled Mechanical Systems, built by Junji Furusho and research associate Masamichi Sakaguchi. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 48.
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  • At the Tsukuba Mechanical engineering Lab (M.E.L.), Japan, a robotic hand with tactile sensors gently grips an orange. The robotic hand is equipped with tactile sensors in the finger tips to transmit a signal back to the operator. Designed by Hitoshi Maekawa Ph.D. a researcher in the cybernetics division of the Department of Robotics of Tuskuba MEL. Over the last 8 years, Maekawa has developed a robotic hand with tactile sensors that can hold items in its fingertips and compensate for slippage. His research is into dynamic grasping force control for a multi-fingered hand. (Paper on project was presented at the IEEE International Conference On Robotics and Automation, 1996. Work is ongoing).
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  • The robot, called Kenta, (Ken means tendon in Japanese) has a flexible spinal column that resembles that of the human body; 96 motors; a five-joint neck; a10 joint spine (each with 3 degrees of freedom); and fast-moving stereo vision that can track a flesh color object. The neck and torso are coordinated to respond in concert with the eye's movement. Student researchers create movements for the robot in simulation and then feed the simulations back to the robot. Professor Hirochika Inoue thinks that developing robots with this structure of incredibly decreased weight and fewer parts will reduce the cost and the complexity of robots in the future for more widespread application. Inoue-Inaba Robotic Lab, University of Tokyo, Japan.
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  • Sometimes described as the grand old man of Japanese robotics, Hirochika Inoue of the University of Tokyo is one of the directors of the nation's massive effort to develop a humanoid robot. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 22.
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  • The robot, called Kenta, (Ken means tendon in Japanese) has a flexible spinal column that resembles that of the human body; 96 motors; a five-joint neck; a 10 joint spine (each with 3 degrees of freedom); and fast-moving stereo vision that can track a flesh colored object. The neck and torso are coordinated to respond in concert with the eye's movement. Student researchers create movements for the robot in simulation and then feed the simulations back to the robot. Professor Hirochika Inoue thinks that developing robots with this structure of incredibly decreased weight and fewer parts will reduce the cost and the complexity of robots in the future for more widespread application. Inoue-Inaba Robotic Lab, University of Tokyo, Japan.
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  • Good-naturedly donning fishy swim goggles for the camera, Yuuzi Terada, an engineer at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, stands at company headquarters with a pair of the sleek robot fish he constructs. Gray's Paradox asks the question why fish, with their slim muscles and small fins, can accelerate so quickly. Researchers have long hoped that unraveling Gray's Paradox will allow them to build safer, faster nautical propulsion systems. The dream is shared by Terada and other researchers at Mitsubishi, who have long thought that fish fins might serve as a model for a new kind of propeller that would make underwater vehicles faster, more stable, and more maneuverable. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 106-107.
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  • Looking into the eyes of Jack the robot, Gordon Cheng tests its response to the touch of his hand. Researchers at the Electrotechnical Lab at Tsukuba, an hour away from Tokyo, Japan, are part of a project funded by the Japanese Science and Technology Agency to develop a humanoid robot as a research vehicle into complex human interactions. With the nation's population rapidly aging, the Japanese government is increasingly funding efforts to create robots that will help the elderly. Project leader Yasuo Kuniyoshi wants to create robots that are friendly and quite literally soft, the machinery will be sheathed in thick padding. In contrast to a more traditional approach, Kuniyoshi wants to program his robot to make it learn by analyzing and fully exploiting its natural constraints. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 56-57.
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  • In an oddly ghoulish bit of dental R&D, Waseda University engineers have built a "jaw-robot" from a skull, some electronic circuitry, and an assembly of pulleys, wheels, and cables that act like muscle. Sensors measure the biting action of the jaw and the force of the chewing. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 173.
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  • When a terrifying earthquake leveled part of Turkey in the fall of 1999, rescuers had trouble pulling victims from the rubble because it was too risky to crawl through the unstable ruins. As a result, some people died before they could be rescued. Shigeo Hirose of the Tokyo Technical Institute thinks he may have the solution: Blue Dragon (Souryu in Japanese). A light, triple-jointed robot with a digital camera in its nose, Blue Dragon could crawl through an earthquake-damaged building in search of survivors. Wriggling over a pile of shattered concrete on a construction site at the institute's campus, the battery-operated robot fell over several times, but righted itself quickly and continued slithering through the pile of stone. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 148-149.
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  • Although the Titan VII climbing robot has only four legs, its designers drew their inspiration from spiders, which have exceptional climbing skills. Built by Hideyuki Tsukagoshi, a research associate in the Tokyo laboratory of Shigeo Hirose, the machine is intended to be a mobile construction platform on steep slopes. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 193.
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  • A man who hopes to become known as the Father of the Artificial Brain, Hugo de Garis of Starlab in Belgium argues that "artilects", artificial intellects, are inevitable. He also thinks humankind may come to rue the day it created them. De Garis was working at a research facility 30 miles outside of Kyoto, Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 28.
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  • Although the Titan VII climbing robot has only four legs, its designers drew their inspiration from spiders, which have exceptional climbing skills. Built by Hideyuki Tsukagoshi, a research associate in the Tokyo laboratory of Shigeo Hirose, the machine is intended to be a mobile construction platform on steep slopes. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 192.
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  • Industrial-robot designer Norio Kodaira of Mitsubishi smiles proudly behind his Melfa EN, a robot arm that moves with incredible speed and dexterity to assemble pieces, drill holes, make chips, or just about any repetitive task that needs to be done quickly and precisely. Like many Japanese roboticists, Kodaira was inspired as a child by Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy), a popular Japanese cartoon about a futuristic robot boy who helps human beings (a 15-centimeter Astro Boy action figure). Astro Boy, drawn in the 1950's, will soon be the star of a major motion picture. In the story line, his birthdate is in April of 2003. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 196.
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  • The novelty of owning Japan's first robot dog is not enough to keep Mitsuhiko Nozue's son Masahiko from switching his attention to a Pokemon video game. When abandoned by its owner, AIBO, Sony's new, limited-edition mechanical pet, plays with the ball by itself, delighting Mitsuhiko. The man runs for the 150-page manual that came with the robot pet when AIBO displays any new trick, sometimes leaving Mitsuhiko scratching his head; a puzzlement all too familiar from other encounters with digital gizmos. The latest word is that the Nozue family has named their AIBO Narubo. Yokohama, Japan . From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 226.
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  • Relaxing in his office at the Mechanical Engineering Lab in Tsukuba, Japan, Takanori Shibata pats a derivative product from his research: a robot cat named Tama. Shibata is a roboticist who studied with MIT robot guru Rodney Brooks before heading his own lab. Omron, a Japanese engineering company, applied Shibata's discoveries to produce Tama, a mechanical pet with sensors beneath its fur that react to sound and touch.  Omron says it has no plans as of yet to commercialize its robot cats. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 227.
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  • Seven-year-old Masahiko Nozue gets down on the floor and romps with AIBO, Sony's robotic pet dog. The Nozues had wanted a real dog, but pets are not allowed in their apartment. AIBO never needs to be fed, bathed, or walked, although it can simulate urination; it doesn't shed hair, bark at the neighbors, or need to be kept in a kennel when its owners go on vacation. Still, its behavior is so lifelike that the Nozues find it hard to treat it like a machine. One charge on its rechargeable battery lasts about two hours, and during that time AIBO is for all intents and purposes one of the family. Yokohama, Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 224-225.
    Japan_JAP_rs_247_qxxs.jpg
  • In a spanking new, richly-appointed research center above a busy shopping street in Tokyo's stylish Harajuku district, Hiroaki Kitano shows off his robot soccer team. In addition to Kitano's humanoid-robot work at Kitano Symbiotic Systems Project, a five-year, government-funded ERATO project, Kitano is the founder and chair of Robot World Cup Soccer (RoboCup), an annual soccer competition for robots. There are four classes of contestants: small, medium, simulated, and dog (using Sony's programmable robot dogs). Kitano's small-class RoboCup team consists of five autonomous robots, which kick a golf ball around a field about the size of a ping-pong table. An overhead video camera feeds information about the location of the players to remote computers, which use the data to control the robots' offensive and defensive moves. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 213 bottom.
    Japan_JAP_rs_30_qxxs.jpg
  • In a spanking new, richly-appointed research center above a busy shopping street in Tokyo's stylish Harajuku district, Hiroaki Kitano shows off his robot soccer team. In addition to Kitano's humanoid-robot work at Kitano Symbiotic Systems Project, a five-year, government-funded ERATO project, Kitano is the founder and chair of Robot World Cup Soccer (RoboCup), an annual soccer competition for robots. There are four classes of contestants: small, medium, simulated, and dog (using Sony's programmable robot dogs). Kitano's small-class RoboCup team consists of five autonomous robots, which kick a golf ball around a field about the size of a ping-pong table. An overhead video camera feeds information about the location of the players to remote computers, which use the data to control the robots' offensive and defensive moves. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 213 top.
    Japan_JAP_rs_31_qxxs.jpg
  • Surrounded by his plans and sketches, designer Tatsuya Matsui (seated) contemplates the next phase in the evolution of SIG, the robot under development by Hiroaki Kitano (standing). Kitano, a senior researcher at Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc. and director of this government-funded project, wants to endow SIG with sufficient eyesight, hearing, and processing power to follow instructions given by several people in a crowd. The goal is ambitious, but Kitano is well-placed to achieve it. In 1997, he created the now-famous RoboCup, in which robot teams from around the world meet every year to play soccer in an indoor arena. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 83.
    Japan_JAP_rs_242_qxxs.jpg
  • Sleek and elegant, the head of this unfinished robot was constructed by the Symbiotic Intelligence Group of the Kitano Symbiotic Systems Project. It is funded by an ERATO grant from the Japan Science and Technology Corporation, a branch of the Science and Technology Agency of the Japanese government. SIG, as this robot is named, has a white outside shell designed by a project artist, group leader Hiroaki Kitano is a firm believer in the importance of aesthetics. Tokyo, Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 80-81.
    Japan_JAP_rs_241_qxxs.jpg
  • Fans invited off a street in Tokyo's Harajuku area to meet Pino pose with the popular robot. Pino, short for Pinocchio (after the fabled wooden puppet that becomes a human boy), is a full-bodied, child-sized, humanoid robot. Even before it demonstrates the ability of a wide range of bipedal movements it already has a national following in Japan after the release of a music video called "Can You Keep a Secret" in which the robot stars alongside one of Japan's most popular recording artists, Hikaru Utada. It has elevated Tatsuya Matsui, the artist who created the robot design, to celebrity status and provoked murmurs of dissent by some in the robotics community who see the robot as a commercial entity rather than a serious research project. Interestingly, the robot project is part of a large ERATO grant from the Japan Science and Technology Corporation, a branch of the Science and Technology Agency of the Japanese government. Project creator Hiraoki Kitano  believes that the aesthetics of a robot are important in order for it to be accepted by humans into their living space. At the Kitano Symbiotic Systems, Tokyo, Japan.
    Japan_Jap_rs_451_xs.jpg
  • Fans invited off a street in Tokyo's Harajuku area to meet Pino pose with the popular robot. Pino, short for Pinocchio (after the fabled wooden puppet that becomes a human boy), is a full bodied, child-sized, humanoid robot. Even before it demonstrates the ability of a wide range of bipedal movements it already has a national following in Japan after the release of a music video called "Can You Keep a Secret" in which the robot stars alongside one of Japan's most popular recording artists, Hikaru Utada. It has elevated Tatsuya Matsui, the artist who created the robot design (seated at left), to celebrity status. Interestingly, the robot project is part of a large ERATO grant from the Japan Science and Technology Corporation, a branch of the Science and Technology Agency of the Japanese government. Project creator Hiraoki Kitano (standing with arms crossed) believes that the aesthetics of a robot are important in order for it to be accepted by humans into their living space. At the Kitano Symbiotic Systems, Tokyo, Japan.
    Japan_Jap_rs_453_xs.jpg
  • First generation AIBO robot pet. Although they say it is only a robotic pet, the Nozue family in Yokohama acts like it is a member of the family. This is especially true of Mr. Nozue. During our two-hour Sunday morning visit, the family began by explaining that they had bought the Aibo through a nationwide lottery draw. They had wanted a real dog but their apartment building rules do not allow real pets so Mr. Nozue accessed the Sony site from work and applied for the lottery. His wife, Yoshini, says she never expected that they would actually buy the robotic pet because of the expense involved, they paid $2,500. AIBO is Japanese for buddy. Sony Corporation manufactures the robot. Photographed at the home of the Nozue family, Yokohama, Japan..
    Japan_Jap_rs_248_xs.jpg
  • Robot designer Yoshihiro Fujita stares into the electronic eyes of R100, his personal-assistant robot. The robot can recognize faces, identify a few hundred words of Japanese, and obey simple commands, but its most important job, Fujita says, is to help families keep in touch. If Mom at work wants to remind Junior at home to study, she can E-mail the robot, which will deliver the message verbally. To take the sting out of the command, the robot can sing and dance, a charming feature that is one reason NEC is inching toward commercializing the project. Japan. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page166-167.
    Japan_JAP_rs_260_qxxs.jpg
  • Pino, short for Pinocchio (after the fabled wooden puppet that becomes a human boy), is a full-bodied, child-sized, humanoid robot. Even before it demonstrates the ability of a wide range of bipedal movements it already has a national following in Japan after the release of a music video called "Can You Keep a Secret" in which the robot stars alongside one of Japan's most popular recording artists, Hikaru Utada. It has elevated Tatsuya Matsui, the artist who created the robot design, to celebrity status. The robot project is part of a large ERATO grant from the Japan Science and Technology Corporation, a branch of the Science and Technology Agency of the Japanese government. Project creator Hiraoki Kitano believes that the aesthetics of a robot are important in order for it to be accepted by humans into their living space. At the Kitano Symbiotic Systems, Tokyo, Japan.
    Japan_Jap_rs_458_xs.jpg
  • MK 5, a compact robot that can walk dynamically, was designed by researcher Takayuki Furuta. At the Kitano Symbiotic Systems, Tokyo, Japan.
    Japan_Jap_rs_460_xs.jpg
  • The Sony humanoid robot prototype SDR-3X is held by professional Sumo wrestler Tamarashi ("Bullet-storm"). Sony Corporation announced the development of this small bipedal walking robot in November of 2000. By synchronizing the movements of 24 joints on its body, Sony says, the robot can perform basic movements such as walking and changing direction, rising from a seated position, balancing on one leg, kicking a ball, and dancing. Tokyo, Japan.
    Japan_Jap_rs_477_120_xs.jpg
  • The H7 robot walks without a safety harness at the Inoue-Inaba Robotics Lab. A joystick operating student, seated at right maneuvers the robot. Research Associate Satoshi Kagami (wearing a suit in the photo) walks with the robot, armed with its "kill switch" in case the robot malfunctions. Its predecessor, H6 hangs at left, near another student who is ready to step in, in the event that the robot falls. The researchers are fairly relaxed during the demonstration compared to those in other labs. University of Tokyo, Japan.
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  • In Tokyo, Japan, REONA, a life-sized silicon sex doll sells for $7,500 (U.S.). The doll was shown at the apartment of the creator, a designer of artificial prosthetics, in a small room that served as his office. It was slouched in a leather chair dressed in a silk pajama and pantyhose. He changed the clothes to show the full figure, including private parts, which are removable and washable (not inserted for the photo). The doll is moved around by wheelchair. Its cold clammy skin was not a problem, assured the designer. "The doll has great thermoconductive properties. You can put an electric blanket on it for a while and it will retain body heat for a long time."
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Peter Menzel Photography

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