Murata Seiko unicycling robot gets an awesome upgrade

It was almost exactly a year ago that our hearts were stolen by Murata Seiko (Japanese for Murata Girl), the balance-blessed, unicycling robot. Murata Seiko didn't perform surgery or serve cocktails at parties -- she was no service bot... unless you consider pure, unadulterated, awe-inspiring entertainment a service. And we must admit, we do. Well, Murata's going to be performing at CEATEC 2009, showing off her three-times increased speed, improved balance, and turning ratio. All of this culminates in her new-found ability to navigate a very thin balance beam. Check out the videos of her in action after the break.

[Drummrgy Posted Sep 27th 2009 1:37AM]

Impressive...and slightly creepy.

[Menos Posted Sep 27th 2009 3:25PM]

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[(Unverified) Posted Sep 28th 2009 2:03PM]

Shoving is the answer. Shoving will protect you from the terrible secret of space.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2009 12:37PM]

Blathering Blatherskite! This is just a ripoff of GizmoDuck!

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 1:38AM]

these things are gonna have to work hard to take over the world, we can just kick em over once they become self aware

[leemahi Posted Sep 27th 2009 1:45AM]

honda has been working on asimo the last 15 years i bet they're secretly planning to overtake the world

[UchihaSasuke Posted Sep 27th 2009 2:15AM]

Wait till you see the final version, battery pack is converted to mini rocket launcher, eyes will shoot laser *pew* *pew* and the fan on its chest will shoot shuriken.

[Someguyfromcrowd Posted Sep 27th 2009 12:36PM]

Just show them the following statement:

The following sentence is false.
The previous sentence is true.

Instant flaming robot heads!

;)

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 1:52AM]

She's camera shy.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 2:03AM]

What's next juggling?

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 8:52AM]

I guess that is only a matter of programming. There are already these two ultrafast and precise Roboter Hands with superfast Object following camera. They can throw and hit a baseball. Search on Youtube if you want to see them in action.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 3:33AM]

Hell, I'd appoint that robot my leader. I'm sure it's benevolent and can rule from a criss-crossing wire heaven.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 4:23AM]

Let me know when she can ice skate ;)

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 6:17AM]

Now if only your mother had that kind of balance last night

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 6:42AM]

They're pretty paranoid about it falling over and breaking it seems...news flash guys, it's got 1 wheel...it's gonna fall over and not get up.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 7:10AM]

So you'd spend millions of dollars in creating something that's potentially a huge advancement in robotics and then just let it fall over to completely fuck up?

New flash, guy; some people aren't as dumb as you.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 6:23AM]

If that's three times faster I'm assuming last years video was timelapse.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 7:16AM]

No, I'd add 2 more wheels....

I understand the processing and software to balance this can have some pretty nice applications, but one wheel...not so much.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 8:12AM]

Is that a Canon shutter sound?

[swollenmonkey Posted Sep 27th 2009 8:57AM]

Watch Microsoft come out with a NEW AND IMPROVED 3 wheel version!!

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 10:57AM]

Wait, did I read that right? This is supposed to be three times faster than its predecessor?

[Wwhat Posted Sep 27th 2009 12:25PM]

Not exactly 'big dog', but keep trying.

Reminder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3G-UE1HwGI#t=27

[Mr Smiley Posted Sep 27th 2009 12:40PM]

Looks impressive (for it's size) considering that they are essentially miniaturizing an autonomous Segway. Fast forward 5 years and you'll see a life-sized one saving people from a burning building. When it come to robotics, don't fuck with a Japanese!

[Wwhat Posted Sep 27th 2009 1:28PM]

So far I have yet to see a usable robot from japan, they only make photo-op robots

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 2:13PM]

hope she's wearing undies under her skirt................

[solarbuddy Posted Sep 28th 2009 9:59AM]

I am totally creeped out now as I had the *exact* same thought.

[DirtyVegas Posted Sep 27th 2009 3:11PM]

Impressive booty.

[ZaxCG2 Posted Sep 27th 2009 3:21PM]

STOP SQUIRMING AROUND BACK THERE. WATCH THE UNICYCLING ROBOT. YOU'LL NEVER GET ANOTHER CHANCE IN YOUR LIFE.

[seth Posted Sep 27th 2009 4:37PM]

sorry if this is also off topic but those kids are SOOO CUTE !!

[UchihaSasuke Posted Sep 27th 2009 4:47PM]

"Hi, I'm Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC....."

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 27th 2009 7:37PM]

I'm with 'Wwhat'...

I've seen more impressive and considerably faster balancing bots in hackaday posts made by amateurs out of a box of scraps... What gives guys? They spend approximately 1 gillion dollars US and they can't even make a simple balancing bot that they are confident won't fall over? Am I missing something here or what? Does it run on good intentions or something?

P.S. I'm not trying to be a troll of start a flame war here guys, just genuinely confused...

[buckaroo Posted Sep 29th 2009 8:07PM]

Those balancing robots balance in one dimension, forward and back. This one has to balance side to side as well.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 28th 2009 2:31AM]

I use a lot of Murata capaictors.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 28th 2009 8:30AM]

gravy, it's the ghost of Madeline!

[payload Posted Sep 28th 2009 10:25AM]

Let's see how it does on Battle Bots

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2009 10:58AM]

Impressive. Must have some real modern control theory behind.