ROBOTS DREAMS

ASIMO Brings It Full Circle (Video)

By now almost every robot fan on the planet must have seen the video clips of Honda's ASIMO conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. But, just in case you haven't, we've included a copy of the video below.

Obviously ASIMO didn't 'conduct' the orchestra in the same sense that a human conductor would. The robot can't add any artistic interpretation, or do much more than just mimic and mechanically replay what it has been taught or programmed.

Still, it's realism is extremely impressive, to the point that both the orchestra and the audience respond to ASIMO as if he were a real conductor. In the end, that might be all that is important.
 

A Robot and his Boy

Marc VanHoorn, one of our dyed-in-the-wool robot friends from RoboSavvy, passed along the great photo above along with a note that reads:

"Went to the Tokyo Thai festival today and had a great time and ate some lovely food. I also managed to get my picture taken with Asimo."

Disney Trots Wall-E Robot Out for a Sneak Peek (Video)

Thanks to a very timely heads-up from our good friend and fellow robot fanatic David Buckley, we were vectored to a 'sneak peek' video (see  below) featuring the Wall-E robot that Disney has scheduled to go on sale later this summer following the commercial movie release.

Although the video is extremely dark and the volume is pretty low, you can still tell a lot about the robot and its unique remote control. At the projected USD$189 price point we're sure that a lot of robot and Disney/Pixar fans are going to find Wall-E scooting around the base of their Christmas this coming December.

Nothing To Do With Robotics, But ....

This has almost nothing to do with robotics, but the Dutch HEMA website is so funny, and surprising, that it literally had us laughing out loud. We highly recommend that you check it out. Just click on the link above, and wait for a few seconds after the page finishes loading.

We're pretty sure you'll be as amazed and truly delighted just like we were.

Enjoy"

In Lieu of a Another New Robot...

Okay, we have to admit it. We just went out and exercised our plastic for something that wasn't actually a robot. Our last mountain bike purchase, a jet black TREK 820, was almost 12 years ago, and although the bike is still serviceable, it has definitely seen better days. The situation was aggravated even more by the fact that we live just a couple minutes from Tokyo Bay, so the battle with salt spray and rust is never ending.

So, we're the proud owners of a brand new, bright red, TREK 4500. And, since the shop we bought it from is quite a ways from our place, the new bike already has a little over 10 km on it - just from riding it home from the store. To put things in perspective, a TREK 4500 purchased here cost almost exactly the same as a brand new Kondo KHR-2HV purchased in the States.

 

Google Japan Celebrates Astro Boy's Birthday!

April 7th is Astro Boy's (Atom in Japan) birthday, and the Google Japan website decided to mark the occasion, and honor one of the world's best known robots, with a custom logo. 

Japanese Network Set to Debut Robot Drama

Fuji TV, one of the top television networks in Japan, is set to debut a new series next week tittled "Zettai Kareshi!", which loosely translates as "He's My Boyfriend, Absolutely!"

The basic premise centers around Riko, a young single, and very cute, woman who works as temp staff for a candy company. Riko is selected as a beta tester for a new robot to be released by Kronos Heaven. As it turns out, the robot is intended to be the perfect boyfriend, with all the characteristics that women love, and none of the short comings. However, the new robot was designed by a male engineer, so you can bet that lots of comedy and miscommunication will ensue....

The show is billed as a 'Drama', but the definition of drama here is much looser than in the US. This particular program is likely to be more of a 'situation comedy' - perhaps a robot version of 'Mork & Mindy'.

Wakamaru Robot Gets A Part-time Job

Other than the fact that it's bright yellow, and cute, we have no idea why Nikon selected the Mitsubishi Wakamaru robot to do market promotions for their new D-60 digital camera. Whatever the reason, it's got to cost them a pretty penny. At the moment, there's a booth setup at the main entrance to Yodobashi Camera right next to Akihabara station. You wait in line (there were only two people waiting at 7:00 pm this evening, it isn't Disneyland), then get your photo snapped with the robot.

Before you ask, yes that really is a 'black heart' in the photo. It doesn't have a negative meaning in Japanese, and was probably picked just to match the Nihon color scheme. We're sure that they would be shocked to find out the meaning of 'black heart' in English. Neat robot, and neat camera, though we're not convinced that this particular marketing promotion will payoff for Nikon. In any case, it captured enough of our attention that we stopped to take the photo above, and to blog about it.

Black Ox Robot Due Out From Vstone

Vstone is getting ready to release a new character robot, "Black Ox", the nemesis of Tetsujin 28 (Gigantor in the US).

According to their website, the new robot will stand 44 cm tall - a perfect match for their earlier robot emulation of Tetsujin. No specific release date or price is available at this time. However, we're guessing that the new Black Ox robot will have a list price of approximately USD$ 3,500 or slightly more. 

It's also highly likely that the new robot will sell out of stock immediately since fans of the series will feel absolutely compelled to buy one or more.

Sunday Afternoon: Robot Chat at RT

We stopped by RT Corp yesterday afternoon to get caught up on the latest robot developments. There are some interesting competitions, like the RoboCup Japan Open 2008 (May 3rd-5th), that Nakagawa-san is really encouraging us to cover. Hopefully we'll be able to fit them into our schedule, and budget. And there were quite a few customers stopping by to try, and hopefully buy robots and robot kits.

 

Exciting New Robot Scholarship Contest

There's an exciting new robot design contest that offers 25 robot enthusiasts the chance to vie for several great prizes including a $5,000 college scholarship for 1st Place, a $2,000 college scholarship for 2nd Place, and $200 gift certificates for the 10 3rd Place winners.

The contest, officially titled "The Grant Imahara VEXplorer Robot Challenge", is co-sponsored by Revell, Innovation First Inc., Robot Magazine, and SolidWorks Corporation. Initial 'concept' applications have to be submitted by March 24th. Twenty five entries will be selected from the initial submissions and will be supplied with a VEXplorer set to construct and test  their robot creations. The final designs and robots will then be reviewed by Imahara and the winners selected. Check out the official contest rules for details.

ROBOT Magazine Steps Up The Pace!

ROBOT Magazine just announced that they are increasing their publication schedule and adding two additional issues per year. When it was originally introduced, just three short years ago, ROBOT was published as a quarterly.

According to Tom Atwood, the magazine's editor-in-chief, the demand for robot news, tutorials, and information has dramatically increased, and the magazine's advertisers have enthusiastically welcomed the positive trend. The official schedule switch over will take place with the next issue, due on news stands and in bookstores as of April 22nd.

By way of full disclosure: Quite a few of our feature articles have been published in ROBOT over the past two years. We're really looking forward to the increased publication schedule, though it will put more pressure on contributors. We're always looking for interesting robot related topics, products, and events to write about.

Female Robot Leader Honored

With the U.N. International Women's Day coming up on March 8th, the Japan Times ran a special series in this Sunday edition highlighting "... the astonishing progress being made against considerable odds by women in Japan working in a wide variety of scientific fields, long thought to be the sole preserve of men."

They selected six women who represent "Japan's brightest stars in the fields of science, technology and medicine, ranging from geophysics and cancer treatment to biodiversity and robotics."  We were very pleased to find that one of these six wonderful women was our own robotics 'sensei', mentor, and friend, Yukiko Nakagawa, the founder of RT Corporation.

Congratulations Nakagawa-san! It's a well deserved honor!

Tin Robots - Cheap Toys or Valuable Collectibles?

When we were kids, long ago and far away, we had quite a few small metal robot toys that were made it Japan. They were a lot of fun to play with, and no doubt contributed to our lifelong fascination and addiction to things robotic. But, at some point, probably during one of our moves, the tin robot toys were misplaced, donated to the local Goodwill, or just trashed.

Boy, are we crying now! A similar Japanese toy robot from the same era, the "Machine Man Robot" produced by Masudaya Toys, is currently on auction on eBay and the most recent bid is a whooping $31,100 US dollars! Of course, it's in almost mint condition and has been in storage for over 47 years, while our old robot friends were played with constantly until something broke. Still, we don't want to even hazard a guess about the value of those rare robot collectibles we so casually tossed away... !8-(

 

ONN Debate: "Are We Giving Robots Too Much Power?" (Video)

The top analysts on the popular ONN cable television network program "In The Know" debate whether or not we are giving the robots that run our society too much power. Take a look at the video below, then tell us what you think.

Aldebaran Robotics and NAO Start Recruiting

Looking for a fantastic opportunity to join a leading edge humanoid robotics team? Want to do state-of-the-art work that will be immediately put to the test by the top universities and robot labs in the world? Love robots?

Well, polish up your resume (CV) and get cracking! Opportunity, in the form of really exciting robot career positions at Aldebaran Robotics, is knocking!

Nano Scale Development May Yield Macro Results for Robots

We keep struggling to build bigger, more powerful and more useful robots, but invariably battery capacity and life turn out to be major roadblocks. Practical robot applications require a level of autonomy and independence, which means that they have to carry their operating power along with them and can't be constantly traveling back to a charging station to refuel.

Even at the hobby robot level batteries have been a major obstacle. A Kondo KHR-2HV or a Hitec Robonova-1 typically operate for considerably less than 30 minutes before their batteries need to be replaced or recharged. Of course the same problem is prevalent among other consumer electronic devices like cell phones, laptop computers, and mp3 players.

Thankfully, because of advanced nano-wire research conducted at Stanford University. all that may soon change. Operating times could be expanded by up to 10 times as long. Laptops could run on batteries for several days, and humanoid robots could go for 4 to 6 hours at a stretch.

NAO Robot Racks Up 5 Million Big Ones

We tend to focus on the technology and performance aspects of robots and robot companies we cover, but the business aspects are just as important, if not more so. You can design the best, fastest, most capable robot the world has ever seen, but if you can't get investment capital to fund bringing that great product to the market then it's kind of meaningless.

We've been convinced for a long time that the NAO robot developed by Aldebaran Robotics in France was very, very hot. Now it turns out that they have been able to successfully pitch that same message to key venture capital investors. Last Friday they announced the closing of their first round of venture capital financing with a whopping 5 million euro (approximately  USD $7.35 million) investment lead by CDC Innovation.

New Robot Suit to Assist Japanese Farmers

The 'catch phrase' for Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology is "MORE SENSE" which is derived from "Mission Oriented Research and Education giving Synergy in Endeavors toward a Sustainable Earth." The university traces its own roots back to 1874 and Japan's Meiji Restoration period, and has been chartered as a full fledged university since 1949.

Capturing the spirit of that inspirational catch phrase, a university team lead by Professor Shigeki Toyama formally announced the development of a robot suit they hope will dramatically ease the burden on agricultural field workers as well as other manual labor intensive jobs.

Paro Robot Receives Guinness World Record Certification

There's an ongoing debate over the utility of companion robots. With some exceptions, usually Japanese researchers, and the Japanese public, take the positive side of the debate and insist that the elderly benefit considerably from the emotional and relationship support provided by the robots.

The US experts tend to take the negative debate side, insisting that the robot is purely and simply a mechanical, soulless device.Adding a little more fuel to the debate fire, the Guinness World Record organization has officially recognized the Paro baby harp seal robot as the "World's Most Therapeutic Robot".

Japan Auto and Robot Makers Expand into the East European Block

Japanese automobile manufacturers, lead by Toyota, are facing severe challenges. Domestic Japan auto sales for 2007 were the lowest in the past 35 years. Overall annual vehicle sales plummeted by 7.6% during 2007, and even Toyota, the defacto market leader, suffered a 6.5% drop domestically.

The major contributing factors - increasing fuel prices, a shrinking and rapidly aging population, and decreasing wage base, aren't likely to improve in the foreseeable future. Quite the contrary, analysts expect the situation to become much more severe throughout the next few decades. At the same time, vehicle sales in the US, currently the world's largest market, declined by 2.5% setting a nine year low. Although Toyota's US sales performance enabled it to leapfrog Ford Motor and gain the #2 slot right behind General Motors, the US economic outlook isn't rosy, especially with the election year unknowns in play.

Memories of Robot Christmas Past

It was 'giant'. It was metal. It was electric. It was mysterious. It was exciting. It was like nothing we had ever built or seen before.

It was an Erector Walking Giant Robot...

ROBO-Impact

Robots often have a strange, and totally unexpected, affect on people and relationships. We were reminded of that recently when two of our 'ROBO-ONE' friends got married and held a robot celebration party complete with a bride and groom robot cake cutting. It was a true 'ROBO-Kekkon' (ROBO-Marriage).

Closer to home, we personally just went through the opposite experience - a 'ROBO-Rekon' (you can easily guess the meaning), and are still trying to get used to being single again.

Happy New Year!

Sorry, we didn't include any robots in the New Years Greeting Flash animation we created this time, just our heartfelt wishes and hopes that all you have a very happy, satisfying, and prosperous 2008.

We really appreciate all your friendship, help, and support during 2007, and look forward to a Happy Robotic New Year!

Robots: Is the American Consumer Ready?

We're finally getting caught up on our emails, projects, posts and reading to the point that we can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel.

One very interesting bit of 'light' we discovered last night was Lance Ulanoff's editorial titled "Robot Consumers, Grow Up!!" He raises some key issues that may play a significant role the acceptance of robotics by the typical American consumer. For example, he writes:

"Perhaps Americans' inability to accept complex robotics has something to do with our tendency to generate emotional attachments to inanimate objects. We shower our cars, homes, and boats with the affection we should be directing to, say, our children.... Maybe a real robot boy would simply overload our emotions."

It's definitely worth the time to read, and to ponder.

Japanese Pop Diva Is Ga-Ga For Robots

This won't come as any surprise to readers that are familiar with the J-Pop music scene, but Hikaru Utada, one of the most popular Japanese popular music divas also happens to have a thing for robotics.

Several years ago, she personally selected the Pino humanoid robot as her love interest in the music video for her top hit "Can You Keep A Secret". Now she's posting on her fan blog about how exciting she finds the RoboCon competitions.

Keep the faith nerds! No matter how geeky you are, there is always hope that you could catch the eye of a beautiful woman like Hiki.

A Quick Trip to Akihabara

We had to make a quick run into Akihabara to pick up some urgently needed parts. Coming out of the station we found the jolly video game escapee below obviously enjoying himself to the fullest. His welcoming smile, and hearty laughter immediately won us over.

 

Robot Assisted Learning: Word Games

You know a trend like robots is really hot and starting to rocket when it shows up in the most unusual and unexpected places, For example, the Merriam-Webster Word Central website is currently featuring a couple of word games featuring robots. The premise is simple. Everyone loves robots, especially kids. So why not use fun robots to motivate them to learn?

Check out "BIGbot" to feed batteries to a series of cute robots by picking the correct answer from multiple choices. Or, fly a "Robo-Bee" around, landing on the correct plant to make flowers blossom. And, just between you and us, it's a lot of fun for adults too.

Thanks to Don for alerting us to these neat online robot games. If you have any cool robot related news, events, or links, be sure to let us know!

i-SOBOT: Hot Robot Bargain at Amazon.Com

With Christmas rapidly approaching, Amazon seems determined to take advantage of the growing robot boom to set new online sales records. Right now they are offering the hottest robot product this season - the TOMY i-SOBOT at the astoundingly low price of only $179.99. That's a 40% discount!

Update: (12/6/2007) Amazon has changed the price to $249.99 - still a healthy 17% discount, and the lowest price we've been able to locate online so far.

A Very Merry Robot Christmas and Happy New Year

We won't have time to send each and every one of our readers a personal card for the holidays, but we do want to express our sincere thanks and gratitude for your continued loyalty and support. We really appreciate it.

So here's a small electronic "Thank You!" for all of you. Enjoy!

Classic Robot R-35 Revived

We're big fans of the retro Japanese tin robots, and are always looking for a good one to add to our collection, so the new Robot R-35 kit immediately caught our attention. Surprisingly the price is less than USD$20. What's the catch?

Well, this Robot R-35 kit doesn't use any tin. It's a pre-cut foam and card stock kit that you assemble, power up with a single AA battery, and then play with, or just admire.

While it closely resembles the classic tin robot, and can walk forward while swinging its arms, it does not walk backwards, and its eyes don't light up. Apparently it comes in either blue or gray color schemes. Looks like it might make a great stocking stuffer for the robot geek in your life, even if that's you.

 

Projected Rural Population Drop Triggers Call For Automation

Close to 80 industry, academics, and government officials held an intensive conference in Shimane Prefecture to explore critical challenges facing the region. Current projections show that the area, which is highly dependent on agriculture, will drop drastically by 40% over the next 25 years. Moreover, the average age of the population is expected to climb driven by the decreased birthrate and migration of young people away from the region.

There is already a serious shortage of labor in Japanese agriculture and the situation is expected to reach a critical stage soon, unless other alternatives are developed. One of the primary themes of the conference was the need to develop automation and robotic technology. According to government reports, Japan's agricultural self-sufficiency, meaning its ability to domestically produce the food it consumes, has already dropped to under 35%, which makes the need to automate a severe and immediate issue. It remains to be seen if agriculture processes will lend themselves to the same type of automation used in manufacturing - an area where Japan has unquestionably lead the world.

A Little Long Overdue Housekeeping

Robots Dreams started several years ago as a personal technology blog, then gradually focused more and more on robotics to the point that it totally took over the website. There was no grand plan, no overarching strategy, and absolutely no organization. Things just grew, with new modules and widgets being added whenever the mood struck us, often in a completely haphazard manner.

Unfortunately that lack of planning started to take its toll. With close to 1,600 unique posts, several hundred videos that have logged close to 3 million views, over 12,000 photos (most of the hosted on Flickr, and the vast majority of them being about robots), and large daily traffic volumes from all over the world, the websites responsiveness really started to drag.

So, we're doing a little site redesign at the moment. Don't worry - all the features and resources will remain, but some of them might appear in a slightly different place. We're moving some of the sidebar links into a new menu bar right at the top of the website. Some of the duplicate information will be rationalized a bit also. For example we had two separate 'categories' listings displaying the same information in slightly different formats. Obviously only one of them needs to survive.

Please be patient for the next few days as we roll out the changes. And, if you happen to notice anything odd about the site, or run into any error messages, please let us know as soon as possible so we can correct it promptly.

PC Magazine Favorite Blogs 2007 List Includes Robots Dreams

We're very happy to report that Robots Dreams was selected as one of the top 100 PC Magazine Favorite Blogs for 2007! It's really an honor - mind blowing actually - to find ourselves on the same list as many of our favorites like Engadget, Gizmodo, Boing Boing, and Pink Tentacle. It appears that we're the only 100% pure robot blog that was selected.

Christmas Robots Under the Tree and Robots on the Tree

We expect to see lots of robots wrapped as presents under the tree come Christmas morning, but Hallmark and Mattel have taken it one step further and created a "Rock'em Sock'em Robots" keepsake that looks like it comes equipped to actually hang on the tree!

Thanks Eloise for the tip!

Robots for Christmas Anyone?

Okay, so we predicted it last Christmas, and we were a little bit off on our timing, but this year we really, really believe it's going to be the Christmas of the Robots, with tons of great robot gifts under the Christmas tree.

The Christmas robot march has already begun, with three exciting products up online at major retailers for pre-order. The Erector Spykee Spy Robot is up on Amazon, the TOMY i-SOBOT is available on both the Amazon and Toys 'r Us websites, and Pleo is also listed on Amazon and Toys 'r Us. 

Steam Powered Robots in Your Future?

We've been harassing I-Wei at CrabFu Steamworks pretty regularly pestering him with questions about when he's going to get his act together and unveil a steam powered humanoid robot. Of course, we're just kidding and having a little fun with him. But, based on the latest news from Vanderbilt University a steam powered robot might not be as impractical as we thought.

It turns out that Michael Goldfarb, a professor at Vanderbilt, is leading a research and development project that has harnessed a miniature rocket motor to produce a consistent supply of steam to power a prosthetic arm.

"Goldfarb’s power source is about the size of a pencil and contains a special catalyst that causes hydrogen peroxide to burn. When this compound burns, it produces pure steam. The steam is used to open and close a series of valves. The valves are connected to the spring-loaded joints of the prosthesis by belts made of a special monofilament used in appliance handles and aircraft parts. A small sealed canister of hydrogen peroxide that easily fits in the upper arm can provide enough energy to power the device for 18 hours of normal."

Breaking News: NAO Humanoid Robot Selected to Replace AIBO for RoboCup!

August 14, 2007: The NAO humanoid robot, developed by Aldebaran Robotics, has been officially selected to replace AIBO in RoboCup competitions. According to the RoboCup Standard Platform League website, the league, which was previously known as the "Four-Legged League" has been renamed to the "Standard Platform League", and NAO has been selected as the new standard platform for competitions.

"Currently, there exist a number of different RoboCup soccer leagues that focus on different aspects of this challenge. The Standard Platform League is one of them. In the league all teams use identical robots. Therefore the teams concentrate on software development only, while still using state-of-the-art robots. The robots operate fully autonomously, i.e. there is no external control, neither by humans nor by computers. This year, the league goes through a transition from the four-legged Sony AIBO to the humanoid Aldebaran Nao."

This is a tremendous vote of confidence for the NAO robot design, and for Aldebaran itself. The company, which is still very much in start-up mode, has yet to ship its first robot. Supporting the needs, and demands, of the RoboCup teams participating in this league worldwide will be a significant challenge, but should also provide significant benefits. The feedback, and field use information that will pour into Aldebaran as the RoboCup teams gear up, will prove to be invaluable and should give them a strong leg up over the competition in this class of humanoid robots.

 

Robots in the News: Sunday - August 5, 2007 (Video links)

A CBC Canada video story covers the medical use of robots for prostate surgery, and quotes statistics that show this is one area where the US is way ahead in acceptance and implementation of the technology.

A robot in Turkey hits the campaign trail, and looks surprisingly like a giant version of the RS Media toy robot from WowWee. We could do the same thing in the US and Japan, but our politicians already come equipped with robotic personalities.

CNN gives the background on VECNA's BEAR battlefield rescue robot, including some views 'behind the scenes'. It's refreshing to see resources being applied to the rescue side of battle when so many companies seem to be developing robotic killing machines.

Sinai Hospital in Baltimore is using a remote presence robot platform to make doctors rounds much more effective. Although they don't mention the cost in the video, we were very surprised at how much technology is packed into the system, and how well it seems to be accepted.

 

Excellent NY Times Article on Robotics and AI

A post on the Robots.net website caught our attention this morning and vectored us to a long, very well written New York Times article covering robots and robotics at MIT by Robin Marantz Henig.

While she covers the technical aspects well, Henig, a regular NY Times contributor who has written about evolutionary theories of religion, really digs into many of the more philosophical aspects of robotics research. And, the questions she poses, both explicitly and implied, are very thought provoking. A good example is the articles last paragraph - the 'punchline' :

"I want to understand what it is that makes living things living,"  Rodney Brooks told me. "At their core, robots are not so very different from living things. They're all mechanistic," Brooks said. "Humans are made up of biomolecules that interact according to the laws of physics and chemistry. We like to think we're in control, but we're not. We are all, human and humanoid alike, whether made of flesh or of metal, basically just sociable machines."

We're often struck by the observation that the Japanese tend to perceive robots as being human-like, or at least animate beings. Brooks' comment provides additional insight - and implies that some leading US robotics researchers also group robots with humans, only they do it by classifying both as basically "machines."

Both perspectives are valid, and obviously produce measurable results. Still, we have to wonder if that perceptual difference has some direct connection to the vastly different areas in robotics where the two countries and cultures each excel, and what that might imply for the future.

Futaba Starts RBT-1 Robot Kit Deliveries In The US

 
Thanks to a very timely and welcome heads-up by "cdraptor" from the RoboSavvy forums, we were able to confirm that the long anticipated Futaba RBT-1 humanoid robot kits are now shipping in the US.

We've been interested in the robot since we first saw it in action last Fall at a hobby show in Chiba, and had the chance to do considerable hands-on testing and evaluation of the Futaba robot version sold in Japan through an OEM relationship with HPI under the G-Robot brand name. We definitely liked what we saw, and have been waiting to see how this high performance, high flexibility robot is received by the US market.

Over the past month or so, there have been strong indications that the RBT-1 would start shipping soon since Boss Robot Hobby in Berkeley started offering the robot kit via eBay, and Trossen Robotics also listed it on their website. According to Johnny at Boss Robot, who's really excited about the new kit, Futaba had committed to deliveries starting on July 16th. They must have lived up to their word because earlier today, Trossen posted photos of the first unit they received along with their initial impressions - which appear to be quite positive and excited. "Let the games begin!"

Tomy i-SOBOT Robot Site Live!

Tomy has turned on the official i-SOBOT website for their new, low cost, high performance, humanoid robot. The website is pretty minimal at this point - basically a place holder - but it's pretty obvious from the website images that the U.S. i-SOBOT versions will be black while the Japanese versions will be primarily white with some blue parts.

For more i-SOBOT information, photos, and videos, be sure to check out the Robots Dreams i-SOBOT section.

Reporter Robot Wanted!

After a couple weeks of all out effort, 700+ photos, hours and hours of video, some neat news stories and a detailed product review submitted to Robot Magazine (check out the Fall issue when it hits the stores on July 31st - you're going to really like it), not to mention heavy jet-lag going to San Francisco and coming back, we seem to be really dragging.

A quick look in the mirror this morning and we saw a huge 'kuma' staring back at us. Kuma is the Japanese word for 'bear', and the meaning in this situation was that we have really dark circles under our eyes... So, although today's the first day of the 5th ROBO-ONE Special competition in Tokyo - one of our favorites - we need to stay home, get some rest and recover a bit. We'll try to get one of our friends who is at the event to share some of their photos or videos with us to post on Robots Dreams. Hopefully we'll get a chance to attend the ROBO-ONE Cup robot soccer matches tomorrow.

In any case, don't worry. We have more robot content in the queue than we could deal with in the proverbial 'month of Sundays'. The flow will continue unabated. Still, if you happen to have a Reporter Robot we could borrow so that we could be in two, or three, places at once to cover all the robot happenings here, let us know immediately!

Starting Them Off Young - Robot Book For 3 Year Olds

Right after RoboGames 2007, we spent some quality time with the family members that live in the San Francisco Bay area, including our 3 year old grand-daughter, Emma. And, we never realized how hard it is to gift shop for a three year old, especially if you want to select something rather unique or with a specific theme.

But, we happened to notice that she's quite interested in learning how to read, and she really likes robots (shared DNA?) Don't tell her yet - we think we've found the perfect gift for a budding pre-school robot builder wannabe:

That's Not My Robot! is one of the "That's Not My ...." series books that introduces pre-schoolers to distinquish between characteristics like bright, dark, smooth, rough, etc. in a really fun way. For example, the robot on the cover can't be my robot because his eyes are too shiny. And like most American stories, it has a happy ending.

RoboGames 2007 Swag

No robot event is complete without a good collection of robot swag, and RoboGames 2007 was no exception.

First, we had some great team shirts and caps that never would have materialized without the dedicated, and very much appreciated, efforts of Don Fugitt who flew down from Washington State especially to actively participate in the event:

Left to right: Jason Fugitt, Lem Fugitt, David Calkins, Don Fugitt

Also, we were also blessed with a great CrabFu Steamworks t-shirt by our good friend and master steam robot builder, I-Wei. We're really looking forward to him visiting Japan so that we can return the favor.

And, we managed to snag a rare M5 Industries t-shirt in our side before they were completely sold out and became collectors items.

Next year we hope that RoboGames has an 'official' t-shirt for sale. We know we'd buy one for each and every team member, and we're pretty sure most of the other competitors would as well.

Japanese Headhunters Beat the Bushes For Robotics Engineers

We live out in Chiba east of Tokyo on the Keiyo Line, fairly close to the Makuhari Messe Convention Center. The big show/event this week is Interop Tokyo 2007 - the premier internet and networking technology event for the year. So, the headhunters and recruiters are out in force.

The days of lifetime employment and company/employee loyalty are long gone, especially in any of the high tech fields. Headhunting is common and carries little if any stigma. And, from what we've heard, the headhunting/recruiting business is extremely active and profitable.,There are even recruiting posters on the trains - like the one above that features every engineer's dream project - a humanoid robot that looks like it's just waiting for Will Smith to put in an appearance.

 

 

Robots Dreams Has A Posse

November 28, 2005, we created the Tempusmaster video account on YouTube and posted a short clip featuring the Hello Kitty Robot. Roughly a year and a half later, we have 157 public videos up on YouTube that have been viewed a total of 2,049,077 times as of this morning, and a list of dedicated subscribers that currently numbers 309 and growing.

The 'Most Viewed' video has logged over 300,000 views, and the original Hello Kitty Robot video has proven to be consistently popular with over 40,000 views so far. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth a thousand pictures...

Another Design Challenge

Besides our two humanoid robots, the most important accessories required to make sure we get the most enjoyment out of RoboGames in San Francisco next month are ... T-shirts and caps! After all, how can you build team spirit without a neat team t-shirt?

We still remember how totally blown away all the ROBO-ONE builders were when Nao Maru (King Kizer) and his family showed up for the main competition last year outfitted in black t-shirts sporting the "MARU Family" design. It really enhanced their team image, and made the experience much more memorable for everyone. 

Robot Animation With A Message (Video)

Ed Beals describes himself as "an indie artist/animator who is also a fan of robots and robot art." His work is fresh, colorful, and very creative. We like it a lot - though of course 'your mileage may vary' as the automakers are fond of reminding us.

One of his most interesting robot animations titled "Defect" (see below) was commissioned by CBC Television's "ZeD" program and was first broadcast back in April, 2003 - long before the controversial SuperBowl robot commercial.

"Defect" is packed to the brim with symbolism and meaning, and is a great example of how deep meaning can be effectively communicated without resorting to complex and expensive computer graphics and simulations.

 

Akihabara - Maids, Tours, And Robot Soccer (Video)

One of our favorite places to hang out in Akihabara is Kondo Robo Spot. It's a great gathering point for humanoid robot fans, and it isn't uncommon to run into some of the top ROBO-ONE builders, like Dr. GIY or Morinaga-san (Metallic Fighter). One of the other things we really like about Akihabara are the ever present 'maids', or at least pretend 'maids'.

So, late Saturday afternoon we were absolutely in heaven. Purely by accident, we happened to arrive at Robo Spot just seconds behind one of the Akihabara tour groups, lead by two beautiful 'maids.' Of course, we managed to capture the experience in the photos and video below. 

The Coolest Transformer Robot We've Ever Seen (Video)

 
Some combinations work really, really well - like peanut butter and chocolate (Reese's) and others are a total turnoff (pickles and ice cream), but every once in a great while we run across a combination that is so totally awesome that our jaw just drops.

Leave it to Takara/Tomy, the originators of the popular Transformers line of robots, and Nike, the world's best known sports shoe company, to come up with the absolutely coolest Transformer robot set we have ever seen, and we've seen plenty.

The Coming Hobby Evolution Into Robotics

Of course any regular reader of Robots Dreams knows that we are firmly convinced that the hobby robot revolution is already well underway. It's easy for us to say, especially since we don't operate a big business with a large staff and significant amounts of capital at risk. We might be right, or we could be totally off base, and the worst thing that could happen is we might end up having to eat a little crow, or wipe the egg off our face.

But, what if a major, well known and well respected, company with hundreds of employees, strong aggressive management, and millions of dollars in operating capital, came to the same conclusion? How would they position themselves to be a major player in the coming robot hobby era? We may be about to discover the answers to those and other related questions very, very soon.

Robot Events Continue To Ramp Up

Hobby robot companies here in Japan have really been cranking up the pace with numerous new events and promotions focused on rapidly growing public awareness and participation.

Several years ago, when we first started becoming actively involved in the Japan hobby robot scene, the pace was much more laid back and relaxed. With one or two major events every three months or so, there was plenty of time to prepare and strategize.

Now it's not uncommon for there to be a significant humanoid robot event of some sort taking place almost every weekend somewhere in Japan, even during major Japanese holiday seasons.

New Humanoid Robot From Taiwan (Video)

Harry Mueller, an avid robot fan, builder, and regular contributor to Robot Magazine scored some personal time with the new NX-25Q Humanoid Robot developed and marketed by RCmart from Taiwan. Like other humanoid robots, the new robot features 17 degrees of freedom and is capable of some pretty impressive moves (see video below).

Harry's findings (he likes it a lot) are featured in a multiple page review in the Summer issue, and he sent along a few additional detailed photos (below) just to tempt the Robots Dreams readers.