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

More Great Robot Portraits From Austin

Mr. Austin's Awesome Robot Portraits

[From the Robots Dreams iPhone]

101 Robot t-shirts

Robot t-shirts

[From the Robots Dreams iPhone]

Nakamura Rolls Out New Humanoid Robots

Nakamura, one of the top ROBO-ONE competitors, has a long line of other humanoid robot achievements under his belt.

For example, he's the creator of the transformer robot, WR-07, that totally amazed and delighted both the crowds and the judges during the demonstration phase of the ROBO-ONE competition a few years ago. The robots performance was so cool, and so totally unexpected that a YouTube video of the robot has racked up over 6,000,000 views todate.

At the same time, Nakamura created Kondo's highest performance robot controller for several years, the Motion Processor, and he was the guiding light and mentor for the creation of the popular Gogic Five robot kit. And, in his spare time, he organized the Himeji Robot Challenge competitions to inspire and motivate young (and old) robot fans in his community.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Nakamura is rolling out a new set of humanoid robot kits, Jo-Zero and STD-Zero, that are sure to set a new standard with robot fans and competitors both here and abroad.

Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, we weren't able to be on hand for the official unveiling. However, one of top Japanese reporters we know and respect, Hideo Ishii, was able to make it and filed an extensive report including lots of great close-ups, detailed performance specifications, and video clips.
Ishii's detailed report

Ishii, by the way, isn't just a technology reporter. He is also the author of several leading books on building and modifying humanoid robots and other high tech gear, and is also a key member of the champion robot soccer team, Bamboo Bridge.

[From the Robots Dreams iPhone]

Gundam Creator Talks About Gundam

Some interesting and thought provoking quotes from Yoshiyuki Tomino, the creator of “Mobile Suit Gundam” the landmark anime series that captured the hearts and minds of generations, and is still going strong 30 years later:

"Gundam is not just an animation or a robot. It's much deeper than that."

"When I saw it, it was so powerful. Its toy-like color was so peaceful. To me it was the color of hope, not a weapon,"

"Gundam reminded viewers and fans of the potential power of humans and encouraged them not to lose hope,"

New Additions to the Robots Dreams Evaluation Lab

Three different ‘flavors’ of the new Takara TOMY MicroPets-i robots, and one of the AI-equipped ROBO-Q bots.

Guess what we’ll be doing this weekend…

A Look Inside Vstone Robot Center (Video)

A look inside the new Vstone Robot Center in Akiba, along with several other related robot projects that Vstone has been associated with. This particular video was taken just after the shop opened. Since that time they have increased the stock and robot selection quite a bit.

Melissa Robot Performs Some Useful Tasks (Video)

Melissa is definitely evolving, and is getting to the point that we can believe evetually robots like this will provide useful service around the home and office. And, we really appreciate Melissa’s builder’s sense of humor and willingness to openly share his ‘bloopers’ and false starts with everyone online as well.

Toy Show Coming Up Soon

The International Tokyo Toy Show 2009 is coming up in just a couple weeks.

The show, held at the Big Sight Convention Center, draws large crowds from all over Japan, Asia, the US, and Europe.

Unlike many other shows, admission is free to the general public, and sales on the show floor are not only allowed, they're encouraged.

It will be quite interesting to see which manufacturers have weathered the economic storm and are still in the game, and which have gone under.

It will also be a great chance to get an early look at any new robot products planned for the upcoming holiday gift buying season.

International Tokyo Toy Show

[Posted from my iPhone]

Vstone Robot Center Featured

The new Vstone Robot Center is being featured in the current issue of Hiragana Times, a popular magazine for both students of the Japanese language and for Japanese trying to improve their command of English.

According to the article, Vstone was established in 2000 as a specialty camera manufacturer by Nobuo Yamato. As it turned out, one of the company's executives was really into robotics as a hobby, so the company decided to try it's hand, and introduced it's first humanoid robot kit.

Although the robot was fairly expensive, listing at just over 400,000 yen (close to $4,000), the market acceptance was surprisingly strong, amazing every one. Encouraged, the company shifted it's focus from cameras to robots.

Robovie, the most popular Vstone series, was introduced in 2003, and has racked up sales of over 5,000 units so far. That's quite aways behind Kondo, the market leader, but still quite a respectable number.

The new Vstone shop plans to offer training courses and a fully equipped workspace for hobbyists to use fabrication equipment, in addition to robot kit and parts sales over-the-counter and online.

[Posted from my iPhone]

Robot Camera Reveals Time Warp in Chicago...

Only the lady on the bottom right seems to have noticed that a Star Trek like time warp is sweeping across Chicago’s landmark Millennium Park swallowing up tourists and spectators…