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PALRO robot masters English, will never shut up again (video)
When first we saw Fujisoft's PALRO robot doing its thing we were charmed but, as it didn't speak English, we had to adore it from afar. No longer. The little critter has obviously mastered our language quite quickly and can be seen below chatting with an even more robotic humanoid about such idle things as the weather, career aspirations, and just how great PALRO is. How great is PALRO? PALRO is really great -- but humble. Inside that barrel chest is a full-fledged PC with an Atom Z530 processor, 4GB of flash storage, and an Ubuntu kernel keeping everything in check. It's available as ever for educational and research institutions for about $3,600, but we're trying to get one ourselves. If we can get it to type prepare yourselves for many more posts about software based on real Japanese cutting-edge technology.
PALRO the robot gets upgraded to 2.0, gets improved face & body tracking, is as cute as ever (video)
Oh PALRO, you'd already won our hearts with that dirty dancing routine you learned over the summer, and heaven knows you're cute as a button. Now, though, you have the brains to match those looks. Fujisoft has upgraded PALRO's software to version 2.0, which comes with some impressive face, body, and object tracking. The little guy can now identify a face and track it even if someone turns their head, and likewise can identify a person's body at a distance while walking through a crowded room. With a quick scan of its dome-shaped head PALRO can locate all the objects in a room and, when told to walk to one, will start swinging its arms and strut right to it, dodging wayward keyboards and mice along the way. It's as impressive as it is adorable, and while PALRO still isn't available for sale to the world at large, a price of roughly $3,300 makes means he's well out of our league anyway.
PALRO buddies with its first apps, busts new moves on video
Well, that didn't take long. Just a few months after Fujisoft's PALRO was formally introduced to the Japanese education segment, said humanoid is now set to receive a host of new applications as well as become useful as a people tracker. It's bruited that PALRO will soon gain a Twitter client (to read tweets aloud as best it can), a cooking app, a Japanese word game and remote monitoring abilities (among others), but it's unclear how these obviously commercial apps will help / not help the robot inch closer to a citizen's release. In related news, PALRO has been spotted with a few newfound abilities, namely the instinct to track people and objects via its built-in camera. We'll spare you the rhetoric on why teaching these things to watch our every move is a tragic, tragic mistake, but feel free to peek the video after the break if you're brushing the inevitable downfall of mankind off as a silly rumor.
Fujisoft's PALRO humanoid robot in the running to be our new best bud
Fujisoft's recently taken the wraps off its latest companion bot, and they call this one PALRO. PALRO's 39 centimeters tall (just over a foot), and boasts a 1.6GHz CPU Intel Atom CPU, 1 GB of RAM, 4 GB of flash memory, a 3 MP camera, Wi-Fi, 802.11 b/g/n, and a lithium ion battery to top it all off. He's also equipped with a 3 megapixel webcam, but don't worry -- his specs don't make him unapproachable. As you'll see in the video which is after the break, PALRO's probably the kind of guy that you could spend a lot of time with... but see for yourself. Fujisoft plans to start shipping units in March for 300,000 yen (that's about $3,300 ). Hit up the source link for a lot more video.
Fuji Soft's new humanoid is powered by Atom and Ubuntu
The world needs humanoids, and Fuji Soft is heeding that call. It just unveiled its new humanoid line at the ever-popular All Japan Robot Tournament, and while the robot doesn't have a model name yet, one of the delightful personalities pictured above is named Sakura-Chan and both seem pretty keen on a bit of robo-Sumo. The mobility and capabilities of the bots seems pretty standard, with an LED visor for facial expressions, speech recognition and a camera for taking in this odd carbon-based world it finds itself in. What's more interesting is the Robovie-style off-the-shelf parts inside: Atom CPU, Ubuntu OS and WiFi, all of which are compatible with the Eclipse development environment. The robot should be hitting the streets (of Japan) in early 2010 for a supposedly competitive price. Video is after the break.
Warner Bros. joins Fujisoft's Wii movie streaming service
When it was first announced, we thought Fujisoft's Minna no Theater Wii was, at best, a proof of concept for a future streaming video service. It had some anime and other popular Japanese TV shows at launch, but we didn't think the lineup for this third-party WiiWare download would widen much. We were wrong!Following the announcement of Paramount content through Cinemanow, Warner Bros. will add movies from its catalog to Minna no Theater, starting with a set of 54 movies tomorrow! One of the titles being added, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, is being released on the WiiWare service on the same day that the DVD and Blu-Ray versions come out.[Via Andriasang]
CinemaNow launches Wii movie streaming service in Japan
CinemaNow, the company that's over the years brought streaming content (and often Frisbees) to such varied devices as the Samsung P2, various Dell PCs, and the Xbox 360, has announced that it's partnering with Fujisoft to deliver flicks to the Nintendo Wii. The service will initially launch in Japan, subjecting our friends to the East to such Paramount Pictures fare as Hotel For Dogs and Madagascar 2: Return of the Sassy Cartoon Animals, but we're fairly confident that a Stateside launch is in our future. In related news, cult film director Tommy Wiseau is reportedly negotiating with Chintendo to bring his inadvertent comedies to the Vii game platform.
Paramount movies streaming to Wiis via Minna no Theater
Sonic Solutions has just announced that it will begin offering movies from its catalog to Fujisoft's streaming Wii video service, Minna no Theater Wii. The Roxio CinemaNow service, as offered through Minna no Theater, will offer both new releases and older titles from the Paramount archives, to users of the downloadable WiiWare video streaming application, which is currently available only in Japan. Though Lionsgate content isn't specified in this agreement, it's worth noting that Cinemanow also distributes movies from that company, an executive of which predicted an agreement much like this.Minna no Theatre is one of two WiiWare-based streaming video offerings, the other being Nintendo's Wii no Ma Channel, which is currently focused on original programming. Fujisoft has indicated plans to release Minna no Theater in North America.
'Minna no Theater' streaming video service could come to the US this year
Fujisoft's Minna no Theater Wii was the first Wii-exclusive video content delivery service to be announced -- and it'll be the first to be released, if it makes its January 27 date. The service is set to provide animated content like Astro Boy and Transformers, on a rental basis in which Wii Points buy a certain title for a certain amount of time.Fujisoft was at CES (!) and told GameCyte that they are planning on bringing the WiiWare video service to the US. "We can't quite tell at the moment," he said, "But if the negotiations are a success, maybe within the year." Of course, they'll have to compete with Nintendo's video service here like they will in Japan -- and, as GameCyte points out, it's Nintendo of America they're negotiating with. They'll have to convince Nintendo that Minna no Theater isn't a threat to their own offerings. However, since Nintendo plans to produce original content, and Fujisoft's is based on licensed anime, it seems like there is plenty of room for both.GameCyte also got a demo of the service at CES -- read their impressions, and see video of the service in Ultra-action, here.
Everybody's Wii Theater dated, priced in Japan
Fujisoft's Minna no Theater Wii (Everybody's Theater Wii), essentially a video rental service, will launch on January 27 in Japan, after slipping from its original December release date. We already knew that purchasing the video viewer cost 500 Wii Points, but now we have concrete prices for renting content: A single title for two days: 300 Wii Points Two titles for three days: 600 Wii Points Three titles for five days: 800 Wii Points When it launches next month, 3,000 pieces of video content will be available. These span 150 franchises, including Astro Boy, Transformers, Hajime no Ippo, and Dogtanian. Anime currently dominates the line-up, though movies, drama, and educational shows will also be present, if a bit scarcer.A further 50 pieces of content will be released every month following the launch, and Fujisoft claims its content comes "close" to delivering DVD quality. It's just a shame we'll probably never see this here to test that statement.
'Everybody's Theater' brings downloadable TV to Japanese Wiis
Most Japan-exclusive WiiWare isn't really all that interesting, or is more interesting as a curiosity to read about than as a game to download: it's stuff like shogi games and children's storybooks. But Fujisoft's Minna no Theater Wii (Everybody's Theater Wii) is something whose near-zero probability of US release actually makes us sad. Minna no Theater Wii enables Japanese Wii owners to stream movies, TV dramas, and anime through their Wii. The software costs 500 Wii Points to download, which is kind of ridiculous, and then pay extra for each show. But if the featured shows are even remotely as interesting as Ulecky, the animate projector Fujisoft uses as the mascot, the service will be well worth it. We'll find out more details in December, at the latest, when the service launches.[Via Siliconera]
