Those mad scientists at Waseda University have already brought us walking and talking robots, but they now seem to have turned their attention to an endeavor less likely to storm out of the lab in a fit of rage, with Gizmag reporting that researchers at the University have developed a so-called "organic radical" battery that's flexible and transparent. In addition to being ridiculously easy to lose, the battery apparently takes only one minute to charge and can last over 1,000 cycles, although it's not clear exactly how much juice that translates to in real world use. It's also, of course, not clear when these see-through batts will ever make it out of the lab, although with transparent circuits and OLEDs also already in the works, it seems like it's only a matter of time before all our gadgets are invisible.

A good 90% of our day is spent sitting in a chair delivering you non-stop gadget action, but that other 10% of our waking hours when we're forced to pursue nourishment, let the dog out, and make trips to the bathroom can be a real drag. What we wouldn't give for a chair like the lucky kids at Waseda University have built, a two-foot tall, bipedal "robot" that uses a combination of hydraulics and algorithms to saunter along fairly gracefully and even negotiate difficult terrain like the potentially-deadly household staircase. The WL-16IV, as this model is known (Waseda-Leg Number 16 Refinement Four, apparently) follows several earlier units by the same name, as well as an antiquated prototype from 2001 known called the WL-16. Hit the Read link for some good machine translation fun, or do yourself a favor and just head straight to the video of this dream chair in action.

Aside from providing the world with great gadgets, entertainment devices and robots -- the Japanese have now answered the question that every robot enthusiast since Isaac Asimov has been trying to answer: how do we improve robot-humanoid interaction? Professor Shuji Hashimoto, director of the humanoid robotics centre at Waseda University in Tokyo, has a theory: robots need a solid dose of those Japanese manners (don't we all?) encompassed in the Japanese word kansei, which includes feelings, mood, intuitiveness and sensibility. Hashimoto spoke to a conference on "socially intelligent robots" at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, UK last week, saying that "Robots are going to need similar emotional capabilities if they are to cooperate smoothly and flexibly with humans in our residential environments." How would that translate from the theoretical academic ivory tower to the living room lab of a domesticated robot? According to NewScientist, who covered Hashimoto's UK talk, "if a robot's owner is sweating and has a racing pulse, say, the robot will sense this and decide that now might not be the time to offer them the TV guide or tonight's dinner menu." Still, we're sure that Hashimoto wasn't talking smack about our new favorite polite robot, the EMIEW -- otherwise we might have to sic a legion of BEAR robots on him.

[Thanks, Matt]