Japan robot firm showcases thought-controlled suits

KAWASAKI — A Japanese robot-maker on Wednesday showed off suits that the wearer can control just by thinking, as it said it was linking up with an industrial city promoting innovation.

Cyberdyne founder Yoshiyuki Sankai said he was allying with Kawasaki, a city south of Tokyo, to explore ways to expand real-life applications for his robo-suits, which are often used for physical therapy.

“We want to make technology that actually helps people,” Sankai, who is also a professor of engineering at the University of Tsukuba, northeast of Tokyo, said.

Cyberdyne, based in Tsukuba, makes power-assisted robotic suits, limbs and joints that can help the elderly and disabled to get around or can help industrial workers to lift heavy objects.

The machines detect weak electrical pulses that run through the skin when the wearer’s brain sends the message to the limb to move.

The robot then moves exactly in concert with the natural limb, but provides much more power than it could exert on its own.

“We don’t want people to see individuals wearing our products and think ‘Gee, it must be so hard (to live with ailments)’,” Sankai said.

“Rather, we want people to see the robot and say, ‘Wow, that’s fantastic’,” he said.

source: interaksyon.com

Robot cat Doraemon receives residency in Japan city

TOKYO – Doraemon, Japan’s robot cat from the future, will celebrate turning minus 100 years old by being given official residence of the city where he will be born, a city official told AFP on Friday.

The electronic blue feline, whose cartoon exploits have captivated children across Asia, is to be given a residency certificate for Kawasaki, a city near Tokyo, on September 3, exactly a century ahead of his supposed birth.

The city, in which the character’s creator lived, is also home to a popular museum of all things Doraemon and plans to issue copies of the time-travelling robot cat’s residency certificate to fans and visitors.

“Doraemon was created and born in Kawasaki city. In that sense, he has always been a city resident,” Mayor Takao Abe told reporters, according to the online edition of the local Kanagawa Shimbun newspaper.

“I hope (the residency certificate) will bring the museum closer to many people,” he said.

The certificate will give Doraemon’s birthday as September 3, 2112, as well as listing his likes — pastries — and his dislikes — mice.

Doraemon was sent back in time from the 22nd century by a young boy who wanted to alter his family’s historical misfortune.

His magic pocket provides an endless supply of fantastical gadgets that help his young friend Nobita Nobi navigate the trials of everyday life.

The character first appeared in manga strips in 1969, making the transition to small and big screen over the following decades.

Doraemon remains enormously popular in Japan, serving as an instantly recognisable cultural reference across generations.

The cartoon series also has a large following in the rest of Asia, including in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

source: interaksyon.com

Meet squid-bot, a robot that camouflages itself

PARIS — Scientists in the United States have devised a rubbery robot, inspired by the squid and octopus, which can crawl, camouflage itself and hide from infrared cameras.

The Pentagon-backed gadget is the latest type of a so-called soft machine, meaning silicone-based robots that are made from squidgy, translucent polymers.

The prototype incorporates a thin sheet of special silicone with microscopic channels through which colored fluids are pumped so that the robot’s “skin” mimics the colors and patterns of the surrounding environment.

By pumping heated or cooled liquids into the microchannels, the researchers can also mask the robot thermally so that its infrared signature does not stand out against a cold or hot background.

The prototype is a four-legged entity, 13 centimeters long.

Its limbs are splayed out in the form of an X and, using compressed air, flex like a child’s toy, enabling the little machine to crawl forward with a lurching left-right movement.

“When we began working on soft robots, we were inspired by soft organisms, including octopi and squid,” Stephen Morin, a specialist in chemical biology at Harvard University, said in a press release.

“One of the fascinating characteristics of these animals is their ability to control their appearance, and that inspired us to take this idea further and explore dynamic coloration.”

Morin added: “Even when using simple systems—in this case we have simple, open-ended micro-channels—you can achieve a great deal in terms of your ability to camouflage an object, or to display where an object is.”

The research is published in the U.S. journal Science.

Its financial backers were the U.S. Department of Energy and the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which supports research into innovative technology with military potential.

source: japantoday.com