ROBOTS DREAMS - Robot news and robot hacks from a true robot geek

Robot Dog Gains Attention and Recognition in Japan

We were really glad to hear that the new HPI G-Dog robot canine landed the cover of the next ROBOCON magazine. ROBOCON is, without a doubt, the leading Japanese robot focused periodical. So when the magazine's editors pick a robot to grace the cover, it means that they like it a lot, and think it will do quite well.

The issue featuring the G-Dog will hit stores on August 18th, and includes a four page article covering the robots design, features, and appeal. We got some hands on time with the robot dog at RoboGames 2008 (see video), and were definitely impressed. HPI hasn't disclosed their release schedule for the US market yet, but we're sure it will be a winner when they do.

Kyosho MANOI Press Conference

Kyosho, famous with robot fans world-wide for the high performance and highly stylized MANOI AT01 and PF01 humanoid robots, announced availability of two new robot products, and gave the press a close-up look at the latest, and first feminine, member of their robot line-up.

New Japanese Humanoid Robot Book

Iwaki-san and Tanaka-san have put together a new humanoid robot book that we know is destined to join our rapidly growing library, and workshop. The book, titled "Custom Robot Perfect Book", has us drooling just from the cover photos alone. Add in the fact that Iwaki-san has designed and built some totally awesome robots, including Five - one of the ROBO-ONE 13 finalists, and Tanaka-san is famous for his robot suit/shell designs....

Well, hopefully we'll be able to track down a copy of the new book in Akihabara this weekend. If we're lucky enough to snare one you'll hear about it here with all the great and gory details.

ROBO-ONE 13: Tim Hornyak's Perspective on the ROBO-ONE Phenomena (Video)

Tim Hornyak is a well known expert on the history and development of Japanese robots, as well as the author of "Loving the Machine", a best selling book that explores the 'art and science of Japanese robots"

We had the great pleasure of spending the afternoon with Tim at ROBO-ONE 13 on Sunday. Of course, we couldn't let the opportunity for an interview (see video below) escape, so we grabbed our camera, put Tim in front of one of the ROBO-ONE banners (just like the Oscars!) and kept feeding him straight lines...

i-SOBOT: First Book to be Published

It didn't take long at all. The first i-SOBOT book is scheduled to hit book stores here in Japan at the end of November. The book title is "Omnibot Fan Book - i-SOBOT and 80's Robot Collection". Of course, we have pre-ordered a copy and will let you know how it stacks up as soon as we receive it.

 

Takara/Tomy i-SOBOT Humanoid Robot Featured in DIME Magazine

The current issue of DIME magazine, a popular market trend watching publication here in Japan, has a short feature article on the soon to be released Omnibot 2007 i-SOBOT humanoid robot from Takara/Tomy.

Billed as the 'World's Smallest', the tiny robot packs a lot of power and technology into its 16.5 cm/350 gram body. According to one of the taglines in the DIME article, the i-SOBOT features "minimal size and price" for a humanoid robot, but with all the degrees of freedom, flexibility, and personality of it's bigger robot cousins.

ROBOCON Magazine Hits Issue #50

 
The latest issue of Robocon Magazine No. 50 is on magazine stands here and online via Amazon Japan. As usual it's full of great content, lots of event reports, some interesting construction walk throughs, an overview of all the exciting robot competitions planned for 2007, and even one surprising photo of a very strange 'gaijin' enjoying robot soccer Japanese style.

Japanese Robot Books - ROBO-ONE Guide

We are often asked about the Japanese books and magazines we read and could recommend to others. At first we hesitated to make any suggestions given the language challenges, but enough people have indicated an interest that we've decided to regularly post about some of the best robot publications available here in Japan. It also turns out to be very easy to order them from overseas, as we explain below.

A good place to start is with the ROBO-ONE Official Guide since the book gives a great overview of the ROBO-ONE events, competitors, and organization while including a wealth of graphics and photos that even fans that don't understand any Japanese will find fascinating. 

ROBO-ONE Manga Featured On Yahoo Japan

The Yahoo Japan Comics section is currently running a Act-On manga series section from Flex Comix for a limited time. The Act-On storyline, created by Minoru Kamiya, features the adventures, and misadventures of an active group of ROBO-ONE robot fans and builders. In addition to a general overview of the manga, there are also several links to pop-up windows with previous chapters in the series.

Mailman Brings A Very Pleasant Robot Surprise

Gogic Five and friend discovered an article with a very familiar robot in the Robot Magazine Spring issue!

And, as they flipped through the pages, they discovered even more . . . .