Japan鈥檚 premier robot event offers visitors the chance to find a high-tech ping-pong opponent, see an android dental patient twitch in pain, and to nurse baby robots in the same afternoon.
Showcasing around 1000 industrial and service robots, the in Tokyo confirmed Japan鈥檚 enthusiasm for robots, many of which manufacturers hope to adapt to the needs of an ageing population.
Employees of Yamazaki Educational Systems, for example, were busy nursing four baby robots who cried and burped enthusiastically. The $620 robots are meant to help teach soon-to-be parents how to care for infants.
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鈥淥pportunities to see kids in society are decreasing,鈥� says company representative Kaoru Nukui, referring to the sharp fall-off in births in Japan that means many families have only one child.
鈥淭he way students would touch a baby would be completely different once they have looked, touched, and experienced this 鈥榖aby鈥�,鈥� he adds, before demonstrating a nipple-like sensor that can be used to 鈥渂reast feed鈥� each baby.
Programmed pain
Nearby, a female android on a dentist鈥檚 chair also drew the crowds. Simroid, a $635,000 android, was developed by Japanese company as a dummy patient for dental students. See a video of Simroid in action .
鈥淭hat鈥檚 painful!鈥� Simroid says, twitching and blinking when a student pressed her teeth too hard with a tool. Her chest also rose and fell as if she was breathing.
鈥淧revious dummies 鈥� looked obviously different from humans, so the students may have been a little careless,鈥� says Satoshi Uzuka of the , which co-developed the android. 鈥淭hey are now as tense as when treating a real patient.鈥�
Mechanised motion
A simple system for remotely operating a humanoid robot was also demonstrated by Japanese company Kyokko Electric. It allowed volunteers to move the arms of a humanoid developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industry鈥檚 called .
Motion sensors within a pair of tubes that link the controller鈥檚 hands to a back-pack computer tell Wakamura how to mimic the user鈥檚 hands movements.
Another simple way of controlling a robot鈥檚 movements was demonstrated by researchers from .
Their wheeled robot projects several control 鈥渂uttons鈥� onto to floor just in front of its wheels. These correspond to different commands like 鈥渢urn left鈥�, or 鈥渞everse鈥� and a user operates these controls simply by stepping onto each projected image. A camera aboard the robot detects these actions, allowing the robot to follow the command.
Foreign robot developers are also at the fair, keen for a slice of Japan鈥檚 $6.4 billion robotics market. The show expects to draw around 100,000 visitors in four days.
A ping-pong playing robot called was demonstrated by Vietnamese toy maker Tosy. Although the robot kept missing shots, a company spokesman says the exhibition is a worthwhile opportunity to demonstrate the gizmo.
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