Robotics News from Japan

Giant robot takes care of cars

This blog tracks the news about robotics advances in Japan. One company definitely to watch for is TMSUK, which has quite an impressive line-up of robots for various applications, with some even in use on campuses throughout Japan. The biggest of the bunch is T-52 model:









Is this robot on a mission to seek and destroy improperly parked cars? Certainly the idea has been around long enough:


- Car-wrecking robot from the cover of "Wonder Stories" science fiction pulp magazine from 1935.

T-52 however, is not a nemesis to cars. Quite the opposite:
Pink Tentacle reports:
"This is the giant rescue robot called T-52 Enryu ("Rescue Dragon"). It has a bulldozer-like base and a 5-meter long arms that can lift cars stuck in the snow. In the tests T-52 Enryu showed off its avalanche prevention skills by removing accumulated snow from the edge of a cliff. The robot also demonstrated its ability to extract a car buried under a bank of snow."
T-52 Enryu stands 3.45 meters tall and weighs 5 tons.



Robot Stylists Go Medieval

T-82 model may be the coolest-looking robot to date. Your personal stainless-steel "Knight of Antiquity", eager to help you shop for groceries and around the house.


T-82 scoops candy into a bag at Robotics show in Fukuoka. It has the most dexterious hand movements among robots today.



3. Practical Patrol and Monitor Robot (QC-SR)

Watch out! This robot goes on patrol in a building, and is capable of handling various emergencies, including fire.



5. Bipedal Walking Robots

Humanoid Two-legged Walking Robot "SHINPO"



Using the rotation of the human pelvis and the free movement of leg-joints as a model, the company has finally succeeded in making a robot that can walk without bending its knees - a first in this field with almost humanlike walking style.
It can climb stairs and carry things weighing 60 to 90kg.
"SHINPO" was developed in a collaboration of TMSUK Co., Ltd. and Atsuo Takanishi Laboratory for a part of the robot exhibition at Niigata Science Museum.
Biped Humanoid Robot WABIAN-2
(WAseda BIpedal humANiod-No.2)

From Takanishi Laboratory comes this cool humanoid model:




and another stair-climbing one (not so humanoid):



More cute robots:

A model of the Tachikoma robot from the anime "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex."


Balancing wheel model.