Japanese industrial robot learns to dance
Let's face it. The life of an industrial robot can be pretty tedious. Take Promet, an anime-inspired bot built by Japan's Kawada Industries. The company typically rents the robot out for construction jobs, and in general views it as nothing more than a "humanoid robot R&D platform." Fortunately, there are those who believe robots can aspire to the higher arts, and they've taken it upon themselves to give Promet a new calling. Katsushi Ikeuchi, a professor of engineering at Tokyo University, has programmed the robot to peform traditional Japanese dance. According to Ikeuchi, it's a way to preserve Japan's cultural heritage. We think that now that Promet's discovered its inner dancer, it won't be long before we encounter it on the dance floors of Tokyo grooving to the beat.
[Via carbongeek]
