humanoid

Kojiro here is the work of Tokyo's JSK Robotics Laboratory. With his 60 degrees of motion, provided by a network of super effective artificial muscles and tendons, he'll utterly destroy Honda's Asimo in the inevitable slow-motion robot battle in their future.

I say slow motion because, I mean, look at this thing. He's getting more hand-holding help than grandpa at the retirement home. Hell, even grandpa doesn't need someone fiddling with an original PlayStation controller and a UI to get him to perform basic tasks. Like turning at the waist (see video after the jump).

Geezer speed aside, it's the musculature that's the takeaway here. Modeled after human muscles, bones, tendons, and ligaments, the system is incredibly flexible for a robot, and its 60 degrees of motion bests the aforementioned Asimo by a good 26 degrees.

It's also lighter than your traditional humanoid robot, which designers contend will make it more friendly when humans have to interact with it.

Mental note: Lighter materials also mean one can chuck it farther, perhaps off a cliff, should "more friendly" actually be "more deadly" if and when it goes haywire. … Read more

This is not your average assembly line worker.

But Robonaut 2 is expected to be an exemplary co-worker. General Motors and NASA on Thursday introduced Robonaut 2, a humanoid robot being jointly developed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for use in both the automotive and aerospace industries.

Robonaut 2 is stronger, more dexterous, and more technologically advanced than the original Robonaut, according to NASA. Robonaut, which was developed 10 years ago by NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, was intended--as its name implies--for use as a robot astronaut.

Robonaut 2, nicknamed R2, seems more destined for … Read more

A recently married co-worker told me that what's even worse than having to do laundry is when your significant other complains that you don't enjoy doing it. I'm single and didn't really know what he was talking about. However, now there's something to help do the laundry that I think I would really enjoy, and it comes from South Korea.

According to the Korea Times, scientists at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology have created a domestic robot that can help with the laundry and even heat up food in the microwave.

The scientist says that the robot, called "Mahru-Z," is a human-like machine with arms, legs, a rotating head, and it has the capability to "see" objects in three dimensions and recognize chores that need to be done. This is amazing for a machine of just taller than 4 feet and weighing about 120 pounds. I am 6 foot tall and often find myself not knowing what to do standing right in the middle of a messy room.

KIST engineers say that Mahru-Z can use its moving hands, elbows, and six fingers to pick up a dirty shirt, throw it into a washing machine, and push the buttons to get the laundry done. Oh, that may be it--I have only five fingers.

Other than working autonomously, Mahru-Z can also work with its fellow maid robot, Marhu-M, an earlier KIST creation that moves on wheels. Mahru-Z can, for example, put fruit in a basket while Mahru-M, which has the advantage in mobility, can locate the owner and bring him the basket directly.

Both machines can be controlled remotely through a computer server.… Read more

Classrooms in Japan may soon welcome a new 4-foot-tall educational humanoid robot unveiled by Nippon Institute of Technology and other groups.

It will be used to teach software programming and hardware engineering to students, but will also be demonstrated in elementary schools and nursing homes. It will act as a "teacher" in class along with a human teacher.

As explained in Japanese in the video below, the kid-size bot doesn't have a name yet. With its boyish voice, the robot can be heard asking people to give it a "cool name." It then does some … Read more

Say salam wa aleikum to an Arabic-speaking android developed at United Arab Emirates University and billed as the first of its kind in the world. It could enter mass production to help people at shopping malls.

The Ibn Sina robot, named after an 11th century philosopher, can recognize faces, converse with people by speaking in classical Arabic, connect to the Internet, and retrieve information. As seen in the video below, it can also exchange kisses with people.

Software for Ibn Sina was developed by a team led by computer science assistant professor Nikolaos Mavridis, with the mechanics by Hanson Robotics. … Read more

With robots now doing everything from strutting the fashion catwalk to greeting hotel guests, it was only a matter of time before our humanoid friends started engaging in public displays of affection. Exhibit A: Thomas and Janet, two performance bots who made out publicly in front of hundreds during a December 2008 robotic production of "Phantom of the Opera" in Taiwan (racy robot lip-lock video is only making the rounds now).

A team at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology spent three years developing and programming the smooching bots, which with the help of servo motors that … Read more

And the robot arms race continues.

Toyota has enhanced one of its Partner Robots to make it run at 7 km/hour, slightly faster than Honda's Asimo, which learned to run at 6 km/hour back in 2005.

Partner Robots are usually presented as mechatronic musicians, playing violins or trumpets. It seems the automaker is keen on matching Honda in the development of an all-purpose humanoid.

Japanese are keen to build next-generation service robots for their aging population amid the country's shrinking workforce.

The video shows an "experiment" in which the Toyota bot exhibits very robust … Read more

When it's not enough to let your iPhone control your life, you can have it control a robot.

An enterprising tinkerer in Japan has turned an iPhone 3GS into a humanoid robot by wiring it to a mechanical body.

Meet "Robochan."

Check out the video. Robochan is perhaps disturbing, but undeniably cute. The anime face and leek-waving are nods to Hatsune Miku, a character created for Yamaha's Vocaloid singing synthesizer application. Hatsune is a virtual idol in Japan; one of her albums topped the Oricon music chart last month.

Robochan consists of a 3GS wired to … Read more

Welcome to Far-flung Tech, an exploration of far-out and faraway technology!

All eyes were on the stunning solar eclipse this week, but the Japanese were mesmerized by a new star on the catwalk.

Fashion designer Yumi Katsura showed her latest wedding dresses in Osaka including a gown sported by the government's newly developed "cybernetic human," the HRP-4C, which Crave first told you about in March.

4C slowly shimmied down the 10-meter catwalk to the beat of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean." She turned to look at attendees and said, "I've put on a wedding dress for the first time. I'm very happy today to wear this dress by Yumi Katsura."

At a photo op later on, the blushing bride stood next to Katsura and blinked at photographers snapping her picture. Check it out in the video below.

Organizers were billing the event as the first of its kind in the world, and I can't recall another example of a humanoid robot showing off wedding apparel in a fashion show.

It also demonstrated how the Japanese continue to nurture a playful spirit in their approach to robotics. While other countries are building Terminator-style killing machines, Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) created 4C to work in the "entertainment industry." Perhaps a dubious use of funds by a deeply indebted state, the project was announced with the admission that "(1) robots walking on two feet only have little commercial value, (2) the unit price is very high, and (3) if it falls, it may be seriously damaged." … Read more