ROBOTS DREAMS

Black Tiger Neo Autonomous Robot in Action (Video)

"DirtyRoboto" from the RoboSavvy forums is visiting on vacation at the moment, and managed to catch Iketomu's Black Tiger Neo autonomous robot in action (video below) during one of the recent RT Corp Robot Battle competitions.

Black Tiger Neo is the slightly shorter of the two robots in the video and begins the match in the far right corner of the ring. Iketomu's 'remote control' is a simple Japanese fan (see right) that he uses only when it's necessary to interrupt the robot. Otherwise, the robot is operating totally autonomously with no operator control or intervention.

Matt Denton on the iC Hexapod Robot Design (Video)

In the video below from the recent Film24's Monster Mash event in London, Matt Denton explains a bit about the design of his surprisingly realistic iC Hexapod Robot, and a couple of attendees talk about how awestruck they are by Matt's creation.

French Company Ready to Seek and Destroy the Leghorn Robot (Video)

The French robot guru's over at POB Technologies think they might have exactly the right robotics technology to track down, and defeat Leghorn, the ROBO-ONE champion rooster robot.

POB has developed some really interesting kits and peripherals that facilitate adding vision, object recognition, and other features to robot platforms. Their real claim-to-fame is the simplicity and ease of use provided by their products. At the same time, they've managed to keep the prices low enough to be affordable by a lot of robot experimenters and workshop wizards. And, they always love a good challenge....

Waseda University - Takanishi Laboratory

Thanks to the great arrangement by Dr. Keishi Matsuda of Anabuki Technical College in Takamatsu, we were able to spend a wonderful afternoon getting a behind the scenes tour of the Takanishi Laboratory at Waseda University along with a briefing on many of the amazing robot research and development projects currently underway. We'll be posting detailed reports on some of the projects soon.


The Takanishi Laboratory is named for Dr. Atsuo Takanishi (right), a modern day Renaissance Man whose talents and interests cover every aspect of robotics from biped humanoids, to robot simulation of emotion and body language, human/robot interaction and cooperation, and bio-medical robotics.  We really appreciate the fact that Dr. Takanishi was kind enough to take the time out of his busy schedule to host our visit.

To make his robot dreams a reality, Dr. Takanishi has attracted advanced, and very talented, robotics researchers from all over the globe. During our brief visit to the Laboratory we met key researchers from Japan, Italy, Germany, and Mexico. Dr. Takanishi seems to focus on getting the best talent to achieve the Laboratory's objectives independent of their nationality, native language, or culture.

We should also mention that Dr. Matsuda is also the organizer of RoboCountry IV humanoid robot competitions.

New Robot Plays Air Shamisen (Video)

It seems like now days almost any humanoid robot worthy of the name can play the air drums or air guitar. Even the low cost, entry level i-SOBOT robot plays a very cool air guitar.

But a real Japanese robot ought to play some unique and totally Japanese musical instrument - say like an air shamisen....

Kondo Rolls Out New Robot Controller Board

Here's the scenario: A few years ago we bought a Kondo KHR-1 (the original version) and took a two day class covering how to assemble, test, and program the humanoid robot. As fate would have it, we also had the opportunity to sit in on a pre-release private seminar on the RCB-3 robot controller board. The board was released for sale within about a month, and was quickly followed by the new KHR-2HV humanoid robot that used the controller board.

Now, a couple years later, Kondo has just announced a brand new controller board, the KCB-1, that looks pretty sweet, at least from the published specifications (see below). Will history repeat itself? Will Kondo release a hot new humanoid robot in the near future? It's any body's guess. We don't have any inside info on this one, but we would sure love to...

Onimaru's Night Out (Video)

We had promised to upload the videos from Onimaru's special demonstration on Monday, but unfortunately we ended up spending all day today on the bullet train and fighting some missed connections caused by unexpected snow. So the full robot demo video will have to wait for another day or two.

However, we did manage to put together a short video (see below) showing off a lot of this amazing robots really cool, and realistic, moves. This footage is a little dark because we were shooting at a local restaurant that was packed with customers. You can definitely hear how they reacted by the video soundtrack.

Military Robots Get Real Depth Perception on the Way to Autonomy

Most of us understand how conventional 2D video camera sensors work, and we know how lasers can be used to determine distances to a target. What if we could combine the two technologies? If a laser pulse could be split optically into a grid, say 128 by 128, and used to scan a target so that the delay times of the reflected pulse 'pixels' tell us the distance to the object, then we might have an extremely useful 3D scanner. And, if we could repeat the process fast enough, say 30 fps, then the resulting scans could be used as part of the sensor and control system for next generation autonomous robots.

According to a recent report in Design News, that's the approach being explored by iRobot Corporation to design their next generation military robots. They're attempting to give the PackBots robots improved real-time depth perception using 3-D Flash Ladar sensor systems developed by Advanced Scientific Concepts, Inc. 

Although the sensor's basic principles are fairly straightforward, actual implementation can become rather complex and potentially expensive. Don't expect to see it rolled out at the consumer level with Roomba like products in the near future. However, for dangerous or demanding applications, like assisting or replacing military personnel in the field, it has tremendous potential.

Kondo Announces RCB-3J Controller Upgrade for KHR-2HV Robots

Kondo just announced availability of a RCB-3J controller firmware upgrade. The RCB-3J is used primarily in the popular KHR-2HV humanoid robot.

Creating Smooth Walking Motions

A lot of new humaniod robot builders tend to ignore dynamics and the effects of momentum when they try to create their first motions. They have the robot take its first step, then repeat the exact same sequence over and over to simulate walking. Their stops are abrupt, often so abrupt that the robot loses its balance and tumbles over.

But, humans, and other animals, don't walk that way. They typically gently accelerate from a still standing position to full motion over two or three initial steps. Of course it's more work, but in the long term all the hard work is rewarded. "399"-san created his robots walking stride to slowly accelerate from a stop to full walking motion over the duration of two steps. And, he's also experimenting with a three step acceleration to see if that results in even better and more realistic walking.

Robot Kits Are Just The Beginning (Video)

Some people buy a hobby robot kit, assemble it, try out the motions provided by the manufacturer, and then get bored. But for others the stock kits are just the beginning of the fun and challenge. They take the standard robot and start to add a lot of their own creativity and skill. The results can be very rewarding in terms of personal satisfaction and peer recognition.

A great example is the work done by "Eullin" and posted recently on the RoboSavvy forums. He started with a standard, off the shelf, Hitec Robonova-1 then let his imagination and creativity loose. His video below should give you a good idea of what can be accomplished with some dedication, effort, and time.

i-SOBOT: Disassembly and Analysis - What's Inside

It didn't take long at all before one of the i-SOBOT was completely disassembled and analyzed to the n-th degree. And, lucky for all of us i-SOBOT fans the first autopsy published online was accomplished and documented by Ishii-san, one of the best and most experienced robot technical writers we know.

In his complete i-SOBOT tear-down and analysis, posted by Robot Watch, Ishii takes everything apart, shows all the servo gearing and internals, analyzes the circuit boards and data formats, and even makes some educated guesses about how to hack the i-SOBOT in some interesting ways.

Related links:
   i-SOBOT Disassembly and Analysis (Japanese)
   i-SOBOT Disassembly and Analysis (English via Google translation)

 

Getting Your i-SOBOT Under Control - PC Control (Video)

Well, it didn't take very long before someone figured out how to control the i-SOBOT from their PC. We know of one successful project in the US that uses the USB-UIRT to send the proper IR signals to the robot.

Now there's a second successful project, this time by "togacat" that uses the Buffalo PC-OP-RS1 IR device, and their program is actually running under Linux (video below).

Dynamizer Website Adds 3D View

Ever wonder what a ROBO-ONE Champion robot like Dynamizer looks like up close and personal?

Here's your chance: Sugiura-san, Dynamizer's creator, has added a Real3Di display to Dynamizer's website so that you can rotate the robot to any angle you want and then zoom in and pan to get a real close-up view.

Just look for the widget at the top of the left sidebar, click on it, and have fun.

Insanely Cool Human-Machine Interface (Video)

Okay, we have a very severe, perhaps incurable, case of technology lust. We just saw a video clip (below) of Jeff Han's multi-touch human machine interface, and were totally blown away.

Of course we realize that the price tag (undisclosed, but you can guess it's easily over six figures) puts it way, way out of our limited range, but that doesn't stop us from wanting to go out and mortgage the house, the car, and anything else we could borrow against just to have one of Jeff's unbelievablely cool interfaces.

RoboPhilo: Motion Creator Conceptual Overview

 
  Conceptual mindmap of the RoboPhilo Motion Creator

The more we work with the new RoboPhilo humanoid robot, the better we like it. One significant factor that has us really turned on is the object oriented data structure used by RoboPhilo and the supplied Motion Creator software application.

Compared to other humanoid robot kits currently on the market, RoboPhilo is surprisingly easy to understand and work with. It's hierarchical data structure lends itself to creating extensive libraries of reusable poses, motion sequences, and routines.

i-SOBOT: Rumors Open the Door to Extreme Hacking

We don't usually post unverified rumors about robot products. But in this particular case the source is very credible and the information does match our previous experience with both the pre-production and commercial i-SOBOT versions, so we're going to pass it on to our readers.

We also believe that TOMY wouldn't consider any 'on the record' confirmation, especially since one exciting aspect of these rumors opens the door to some really extreme hacking of the robot. Keep in mind that although there is a good chance that they are true, the 'rumors' below are currently unconfirmed.

A Little Different View of the Speecys Internet Robot (Video)

One of the big problems we consistently face as technologists is in recognizing and understanding new advances. We, like most human beings on the planet, automatically seem to classify new objects and experiences into our existing categories. We look at something new, and quickly decide that it is 'just like x...', then we put that label on it, and we quit trying to really understand it for what it really is, or might become.

A recent example of this is the SPC-101C 'internet robot' introduction held just a couple weeks ago here in Tokyo. Many reporters saw the SPC-101C as just another humanoid robot - not much different from dozens they are already familiar with. Other reporters were impressed by the vision/face recognition abilities of the robot, and quickly, within just a few hours, popular technology sites were trumpeting the news that Speecys had just introduced a "face-recognizing" robot.

Of course both of those views of the robot are true, but in many ways they are like peeking into a room via the keyhole. They only tell a small part of the total story. We'd like to expand those limited views to include much more of what the robot is capable of, and the promise for the future that it represents.

Zeno Website Goes Live - Sort Of...

Zenos' World, the official website for the new Zeno hybrid robot from Hanson Robotics has gone live. At this point (22:00 JST on Sep 8th)  the home page is up and running, though most of the links and special content is non-functional. Many of the images and columns overlap, which is unfortunate since it hides some important information - like the 'News Flash' that's hidden by Zeno himself-

"Zeno is going to Los Angeles for Wired Magazine’s NextFest and he’s sure to be the hit of the show! Come see him in action September 13 through 16 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. He’ll be looking for you!"

We're sure they'll work out the website bugs fairly quickly. Hopefully they can sort out Zenos bugs as well when the time comes. At the moment he looks more like a robot assembled out of Hanson and Takahashi's spare parts bins. The doll like head must be much more impressive when you see it in person, but the body, especially the hands and legs, are not what we have come to expect from Takahashi's studio. Here's hoping it improves a lot with age.

They are currently predicting that Zeno will hit store shelves sometime in 2009. That might be pretty aggressive given the fact that Takahashi's original MANOI design, now renamed the PF01, took close to two years to come to market even after its 18 month design cycle was finished, and UGOBE's PLEO robotic dinosaur is following the same path.

Engineering TV Features Design Engineering Videos

I-Wei at Crabfu Steamworks (soon to be adding 'Crabfu Robotics'?) pointed us at the Engineering TV website, and boy are we happy. The site features "Cutting edge technology, developments & people at the forefront of design engineering", and, as its name implies, serves up video episodes that cover a wide range of engineering disciplines and challenges.

A good example, is Episode 68 - Humanizing Robotics that features some of the advanced work being done by Hanson Robotics to create robot/androids capable of interacting realistically with their human counterparts.

Heads-up: The video episodes are commercially sponsored and ads do appear, sometimes right in the middle of the video, which threw us at first. We thought the video was over when the commercial started playing and almost clicked the window to close it....

Gogic Racer - Gogic Five Turns into a Transformer Robot (Video)

A couple days ago we ran across, and posted about, a sign on the SK-Pang website that looked like they were busy designing some sort of transformer robot.

And, it turns out that our guess was right on target. We've managed to obtain a short video (see below) showing their new add-on kit for the popular Gogic Five robot that converts it into a Transformer robot that not only can walk, and drive around on wheels, but can also turn somersaults!

More "Senses" for the Kyosho MANOI and Kondo Robots

Kondo has announced an upgrade to the RCB-3 robot controller board that features support of the new Kyosho 32PORT/RCB-3 sensor board (pictured at left). We guessing, because detailed information on the Kyosho board isn't available yet, that this will address the analog sensor port limitation of the RCB-3 based robots, and really stimulate the development of autonomous applications. This will probably include the KHR-1HV and Kyosho MANOI AT01 and PF01 robots. Given this exciting development, it's easy to imagine a team of autonomous AT01 robots going head to head against an Alderbaran NAO team when RoboCup 2008 rolls around. 

The new sensor board is a Kyosho product, and Kondo does not intend to resell it, but has upgraded the RCB-3 firmware to fully support the board. The Kondo announcement does state that the firmware and Heart to Heart 3 (H2H3) application software upgrade only applies to RCB-3 controllers and is not compatible with the RCB-3J controllers (used for the KHR-2HV robots) at this time. That's likely to be a 'bummer' for KHR-2HV users.

In terms of additional RCB-3 and H2H3 functionality, the upgrade adds support for the Kyosho sensor board, but does not include any other changes or improvements. So, if you are already using Ver1.03 of the firmware and don't plan to use the new sensor board, there is no compelling reason to upgrade at this time.

Weird-72 Creator Kazuhisa Terasaki Talks About His Robot Creations (Video)

 
Long term readers of Robots Dreams may recall Weird-7, a wooden robot designed by Kazuhisa Terasaki. The robot was able to achieve surprising performance given the fact that it used really cheap servos and a controller board. One of Terasaki's favorite tricks is to have Weird-7 laying down, literally as flat as a board, and then have it pop up and come to life.

Weird-7 turned out to be quite popular in Japan, and eventually Terasaki was talked into marketing the product as a kit. The Weird-7 kit sells for just under 30,000 yen (roughly $260 US), and can still be found at Tsukumo Robot Kingdom in Akihabara as well as quite a few other robot retailers.

But, Terasaki wasn't satisfied, so he went on to create Weird-72, a bigger, better, more humanoid robot version of Weird-7 - only this time his robot could actually jump rope. We caught up with Terasaki, and Weird-72,  in Mountain View, California during our trip to the Anybots facility in June. 

William Cox Interview with Bruno Maisonnier of Aldebaran Robotics (Video)

William Cox, of Gorobotics.Net, caught up with Bruno Maisonnier, the CEO and Founder of Aldebaran Robotics at the recent RoboCup 2007 competition (see video below), and had a chance to get a briefing on the new NAO humanoid robot.

Although neither of them knew it at the time, NAO was soon destined to replace Aibo in the RoboCup Standard Platform competitions.

Dancing Penguin Robot Shows Some Cool Moves (Video)

Humanoido, one of our online robot friends and fellow fanatics, wrote in to tell us about the software he developed to convert the 4" tall,  two servo (yes - just two servos) biped Penguin robot from Parallax into an amazing dancing dervish-  

"Penguin is a tiny new robot, which is a greatly scaled down version of the Parallax Toddler robot. You may think there's not a lot of things you can do with just two servo motors. Face it, even getting a biped to walk smooth is a real challenge But for the past 3 months I've been in the lab writing software. This has led to some very interesting things, like dancing and skating. Some of the dance moves are rather fantastic, wouldn't you say?

Penguin goes beyond his two servo motors. The code has virtual motors. These exist only in software. But they give the robot capability to move in new ways. Let me know what you think of this dancing. It's modeled after little Mumbles Penguin on the Happy Feet movie."

So, take a look at the Penguin in action below, then tell us, and Humanoido, whether Michael Jackson, or Mumbles, has anything to worry about.

Pleo - What's Behind, and What's Inside the Dinosaur Robot (Video)

There's no doubt about it. Pleo, the robotic dinosaur from UGOBE, is an amazing creation. It's movements, actions, and reactions, are surprisingly realistic and lifelike - when it has its skin on.

It's August already, and the ramp-up for the holiday buying season is already well underway. Manufacturers are racing to get their products into the supply chain so that they can fill the shelves at WalMart, Target, and all the other major retailers as customers begin their annual Christmas buying spree. For most manufacturers, especially those in the toy end of the market, the holidays are a do or die proposition. That appears to be especially true for Pleo.

To prime the pump and get the 'Pleo Buzz' going, UGOBE has been sending out a series of newsletters and posting new videos (see below) about Pleo online every two weeks. Their latest newsletter was titled "Sneak Peek into Pleo" and provided an interesting look behind the UGOBE curtain.

New Application For Kondo Robots Released

We mentioned in a previous post a few days ago that we've been working on some interesting software applications for Kondo based robots like the KHR-2HV and Kyosho MANOI AT01. Well, the first application has finished its qualification testing, at least in our labs, so we're going to go ahead and officially release it today for downloads.

 

The application, "RCB3 Button Box" is a simple, and hopefully easy to use, Windows program that triggers motions and scenarios in the robots RCB-3 controller. It also provides error reporting and other important information including the robots battery voltage.

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.

 

All's Well in Robot Land

A couple of readers have written in wondering if we are okay since the post frequency has dropped over the past couple days.

Yes, we're okay. It's the 'Obon' holiday season here in Japan, and most companies close for a few days to a week. We've been enjoying the free outdoor sauna provided by nature - the temperature's been over 34 degrees C (93 degrees F) with humidity running close to 100%. And we've been using the holiday to make some long overdue progress with our two robots - Gulliver and Mondai-Noid.

You'll see some of the results posted here on Robots Dreams in the next day or two, starting with a new Tempusmaster RCB3 application we're finishing up:

And, we're finalizing the edits on a great product review submitted by I-Wei at CrabFu covering the new Kondo KHR-2HV  body armor in great detail:

Stay tuned - you're going to really like it.

i-SOBOT Robot Self-Introduction (Video)

There's a lot of buzz around the internet centering on the new i-SOBOT humanoid robot. And, as you might expect, some of the information gets distorted, or is way off base. Rather than have people rely exclusively on second hand information, we decided to take the bull by the horns, and asked i-SOBOT to introduce himself to you and give a little background (see video below.)

Enhancing The Kondo KHR Humanoid Robot Series - Part 1

Our first Kondo robot was Gulliver, an original KHR-1 (not to be confused with the more recent KHR-1HV kit). He's great, and we've had a tremendous amount of fun playing with him, and learning from him. But, seeing all the newer KHR-2HV robots out there playing soccer had us wishing for another robot just so that we could play too.

But, that would cost $$$, not to mention having to negotiate with our better half and trying to explain why we just can live without three, or four, humanoid robots to experiment with. If we weren't careful about it, we might have ended up with only the robots in an empty house...

So, we took the safer, and cheaper path, and swapped out Gulliver's older RCB-1 control boards for a single, and much more powerful RCB3 controller with the latest firmware. But we still needed to address the motion sequence differences between the two robots or we wouldn't be able to use all those cool soccer moves.
 

Aldebaran's Nao Humanoid Robot Makes Progress (Video)

Developing a new humanoid robot is a major challenge involving a wide range of skills and expertise. It requires state of the art knowledge of mechanics, dynamics, motors, servos, sensors, control software, artificial intelligence, and even business management. If the robot is targeted for commercial sales, then the hurdles, and risks, are even larger requiring significant capital investment, and patience. Good humanoid robots take time to develop, but if you keep at it the results can often turn out to be extremely impressive.

One very promising humanoid project we've been avidly following for quite a while is the Nao robot being developed by Aldebaran Robotics in France. They have taken a very measured and cautious approach to releasing information, only letting the press and public know about their progress when they feel confident enough to disclose it. Their attitude has been refreshing in comparison to some other companies that never miss the opportunity to toot their own horn.

When we heard that Aldebaran was taking Nao to Atlanta to show off a bit at the recent RoboCup competition, it was a clear sign that they have made some significant progress. So we were very interested in finding out how the robot is coming along. 

Anybots Lab Visit (Video)

After RoboGames wrapped up, Noriko Kageki, who publishes the excellent Getrobo.com set of weblogs, invited us to join several other friends for a visit to the Anybots labs in Mountain View. We're really glad that she did, because the work being done at Anybots is extremely encouraging, as they demonstrated for us  in the video clip below.

In addition to the photos and video, there's another post about one of their other robots that will go live soon. Also, a full page article on Anybots.com will appear in the Fall 2007 issue of Robot Magazine, on sale in stores at the end of July.

"Jump if the cotton input equals the comparing resistor...?"

Among video game fanatics the phrase, "All of your base are belong to us" is a classic case of Japlish - Japanese mistranslated into English. It doesn't happen often, but when it does the results can either be extremely funny, or extremely frustrating.

We recently were alerted to a similar situation that was puzzling, and very likely frustrating one of our regular readers that owns a Kondo KHR-2HV. He was very successful at the initial kit assembly, testing, and motion creation, but hit a wall when he tried to understand some of the more advanced RCB3 capabilities like using the SET and CMP objects. That's when he wrote asking us if we knew the meaning of "Jump if the cotton input equals the comparing resistor".

Crabfu's KHR-2HV Robot - Progress Report (Video)

 
A few days ago, we posted about I-Wei's (Crabfu) progress in creating motions for his new Kondo KHR-2HV robot. Today he released a new progress report video (see below) documenting a few of the robots latest moves.

With his animation background, and experience in building steam robots with complex linkages, he's been able to generate some surprisingly realistic motion sequences, and he's doing it using a totally stock robot and only the standard Heart to Heart 3 software that comes with the kit. As soon as he feels comfortable with the robots performance, we're going to see if he will share some of his techniques and insight with the rest of us humanoid robot fans.

Crabfu Tackles Humanoids (Video)

What happens when an experienced video game animator, with extensive experience and a natural instinct for complex mechanical linkages, gets their hands on a humanoid robot for the first time?

The simple answer, as you can see from the video clip below, is total magic. 

Jin Sato Shows Off New Low Cost Educational Robot Design

Jin Sato (JS Robotics) brought one of his latest robot creations along to RoboGames - a low cost humanoid kit (see video below) that uses $10 servos yet has advanced features like adjustable servo compliance. The robot was originally developed by Jin for a UNESCO Robot Camp project, and now he's added a few improvement and refinements, and will be making the kit available commercially soon.

Robot Demonstrates Asimov's 1st Law of Robotics

Asimov's 1st Law of Robotics states, "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." That 'law' came into play a few nights ago when Matt Bauer was walking down a path in the dark carrying his ROBO-ONE class custom designed and built humanoid robot - Rook's Pawn.

Robot Image Recognition Couples Robonova-1 With Java (Video)

Here's the challenge: Have your humanoid robot identify an object - in this case a red block, walk over to it, bend over and pick up the block.

That's the first experiment that 'JavaRN' on the RoboSavvy Robot Forum wanted to try with his brand new Robonova-1 robot (see video below). For most of us - ourselves included - just getting a kit like the Robonova assembled and working correctly is enough of a challenge, but JavaRN went way, way beyond that - way beyond.

Kondo Robot RCB3/H2H3 Versions and Compatibility

There appears to be some confusion recently about the versions and compatibility for the Kondo RCB3 controller and the Heart To Heart 3 (H2H3) software application. Hopefully the history, explanation and chart below will help clear up some of the confusion rather than making it even more confused.

First Look: NAO Prototype Humanoid Robot Walks (Video)

Late last year we had the great opportunity to interview Bruno Maisonnier, the founder and CEO of Aldebaran Robotics in France. He disclosed some really interesting and quite ambitious plans for the NAO humanoid robot. In the interim, the company has been very cautious about releasing any photos, videos, or other information that shows the full robot design. We can totally understand and respect their caution and dedication to managing press accuracy about the robot.

It turns out that the Aldebaran wizards have been hard at work in the labs, and have made significant progress. And, they're ready to pull back the curtain just a bit to give the world a look at the NAO robot prototype actually in operation (see video below). 

Keepon & BeatBots: The Potential For Robot-Human Interaction (Video)

Can robots express, or appear to express, emotion? Can they trigger an empathetic response from people? Can they be put to good use in therapeutic situations where they may be perceived as less threatening or intimidating than one of their human counterparts? Or are they destined to be just used as specialized household appliances like a refrigerator or washing machine?

And, assuming that you were able to create a robot capable of interacting and performing a useful role, wouldn't it be extremely complex and difficult to program or operate?

The jury is still out on the issue, and is likely to remain out for the foreseeable future. Yet, the results produced by several research projects in Japan and the US are extremely encouraging.

Project R: Wireless Remote Control Made Simple - TEC-1

 
There isn't much time left to prepare for RoboGames in June, and as we mentioned in our earlier Project R report, we really wanted to have a couple of different remote controls to use in competition. Both of our humanoid robots - Gulliver (KHR-1 with a RCB3) and Mondai-noid (MANOI AT01) - are entered in the humanoid events, and both of them work well with the stock Kondo KRC-1 remote control. But the crowded venue is going to be packed with hundreds of different robots using a wide range of remotes, so we really wanted to have a reliable alternative.

Thankfully, quite a few of the humanoid builders we know, including several of the top ROBO-ONE competitors, have started using a PS2 game pad controller with the TEC-1 board, a special interface kit developed by HotProceed here in Japan.

Robot Builder Profile: Jin Sato Part 2 - The HRP-2m Choromet Robot (Video)

Modeled after it's larger brother, the famous HRP-2 Promet humanoid robot developed at the Japan Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Institute (AIST), the HRP-2m Choromet robot is smaller in size, yet retains a lot of the functionality and performance at a fraction of the cost.

Starting with the Promet example, and taking advantage of a technology transfer of core software from AIST, Chromet was developed by joint cooperation between the institute and four private companies. And, it turns out that Jin Sato played a key role in the design, programming, and release of the robot for sale. When we visited Jin at his workshop in Tsukuba recently, he fired up one of the Choromet robots and put it through its paces for our camera.

Gulliver: Converting KHR-1/RCB-1 Robot Motions For The RCB-3 Controller

We're prepping Gulliver, our KHR-1 robot, for the RoboGames competition this June in San Francisco, and the first step was to give him a brain transplant - a brand new Kondo RCB-3 controller. Mechanically, and electrically, the change was surprisingly simple. Basically we carefully removed the old RCB-1 controller - labeling all the servo cables, installed the new RCB-3 controller, removed the jumper and plugged in the booster module, then reconnected all the servo cables.

Of course, the robot needed to be trimmed so that it would start from the correct Home Position, but that process was very straight forward. The next challenge was to create some motion sequences, and the shortest path was to just load and convert some of the old motion sequences so that they could be used with the new configuration.

The Robot Sleeps Tonight (Video)

A couple years ago, when the original Robosapien robot, created by Mark Tilden, went on sale, there were no third party products. Actually, at that point, no one outside of the WowWee Robotics labs knew enough about the robot to even begin hacking it, or creating new software and accessories for it.

We bought one, and are very glad we did. Figuring out how to control it from our PC was a significant challenge that taught us a lot, though we wouldn't want to try doing it from scratch again. Fortunately now there are several million of the popular Robosapien robots out there, along with other robots in the series, like the RoboRaptor, and RoboPet. And, there are a number of third party solutions for Robosapien fans and addicts to chose from.