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HRP-2 humanoid robot learns to use obstacles to its advantage
There may be plenty of robots out there able to avoid or overcome obstacles, but we can't say we've seen too many that are actually able to use obstacles to their advantage. That's the claim to fame of this so-called HRP-2 robot built by researchers at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, however, which is able to detect objects around it and discern how they can be used to help it with a specific task -- like leaning on a table to help balance while kicking a ball, for instance. As New Scientist points out, whether intentional or not, the end result is a robot that behaves remarkably like an elderly person -- see for yourself in the video after the break.
Japan's HRP-4C 'fashion model robot' unveiled, already harassed (update: video!)
While that perv in the back is busy shooting HRP-4C's firm buttocks shaped from a glossy Stormtrooper alloy, the rest of us can marvel at the fact that Japan has produced a walking, talking fashion robot. Standing at just over 5-feet tall and 95-pounds, HRP-4C, developed by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, will make its catwalk debut next week at the Tokyo fashion show. The she-bot features 30 motors spread throughout its body with an additional eight motors in its face for expressing general boredom and disgust with the help. Its main purpose is entertainment and to attract crowds much like its fleshy counterparts -- so don't expect home cooked meals and laundry service should you take the $200,000 robot home. Unfortunately, HRP-4C didn't function as planned today. Reports say that the robot, "kept looking surprised, opening its mouth and eyes in a stunned expression, when the demonstrator had asked it to smile or look angry." Hmm, sounds like a fully functional model-slash-actress to us.Update: Video posted after the break that's equal parts creepy and uh, creepy.[Via Straits Times and Pink Tentacle]
Hitachi Maxell claims new Li-ion battery with 20x the power
Nikkei's reporting that Hitachi Maxell, in association with Nagasaki University, NIAIST, and Fuji Heavy Industries, has developed a new kind of lithium ion battery that can supposedly store 20 times the power, but is also cheap and easily mass produced. Apparently this new kind of battery drops cobalt, an expensive staple of the traditional Li-ion recipe, instead making use of nano-infused lithium with manganese. You know how it goes though -- unrealistic and exponential battery developments are all well and good, but until we see it productized, we're not exactly liable to buy into the hype. [Warning: subscription req'd]
Japan develops five-fingered robotic hand
While this certainly isn't the first robotic-fingered hand that we've ever seen, we're always in favor of technology improving dexterity. Those smartypants at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan (aka AIST) have developed a robotic hand about the size of a human adult male's, measuring 18cm (7.08-inches) from fingertip to wrist and 8.4cm (3.3-inches) across the palm. It also has some sort of mechanism designed to "reduce backlash," which apparently means it'll get more precise control over whatever human it's throttling object it's gripping. We still don't know if that means that now these robots can sew their own gloves yet, though.[Via Pink Tentacle]
