by Jay Garrett on November 26, 2008
Wakamaru is soon to become household name rather than a household servant.
The domestic droid designed and built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industry stands 3 feet tall, and weighs about 30kg. It was released in 2005 and costs around £9,000. It can greet guests and provide information like weather forecasts but soon will be tredding rolling the boards.
Tuesday marked the theatrical debut for the bot, which appeared onstage alongside really-real actors in a play that’s being billed as the first robot-human artistic collaboration.
Hataraku Watashi (“I, Worker”), by playwright Oriza Hirata, focuses on a couple who own two housekeeping robots, one of which loses its motivation to work.
The 20 minute production took place at Japan’s Osaka University (c’mon – where else?) where Hirata is also a visiting professor at the Centre of the Study of Communication-Design.
The performance was played in front of the media ahead of a possible full-scale public run in the next year or so.
Hirata and the rest of the project team wrote special software that lets the robots move and deliver the right lines.
The robot is primarily meant as a companion for seniors and the disabled. Using a combo of a laser and cameras it’s able to track and identify people, and recognises approximately 10,000 words necessary for daily life and now possibly an acting career.
by Jay Garrett on November 21, 2007
FUWA PICA, meaning ‘soft and flashy’ in Japanese, was developed several years ago by staff and student’s at the Mongoose Studio at Japan’s Osaka University.
FUWA PICA, is inflatable furniture that changes colour when you sit on it, touch it or introduce it to other objects.
The main hub of the suite is a round table that features a computer, an LCD display screen and light sensors that link to each of the four inflatable chairs. Red, green and blue lights, which cannot be seen by the human eye, are reflected off the object. An Apple Mac is placed inside the table and sends messages to the four stools which projects light through them, then a pulse is added at around the same tempo as a persons breathing.
If you place a vase of red roses on the table, for example, the sensors will determine their color and instruct the chairs to complement the romantic red hue.
This smart furniture can also change according to a person’s weight, darker tinges relate to heavier people and lighter tinges relate to lighter people. This element of the chair is probably not the greatest selling point, as those that are easily offended won’t want their weight to be shown through the shade of the chair for all to see.
The company is aiming for the technology to be commercially available over the next couple of years. We can expect to see this furniture in bars, restaurants and waiting areas, where the coloured chairs can add to the atmosphere.
Thanks to Dean for the headsup :0)
Wakamaru is soon to become household name rather than a household servant.
