« January 2005 | Main | March 2005 »
February 28, 2005
Introduction of Human Type Robot, “HUBO”
A team led by professor Oh Jun-ho of the Mechanical Engineering department at KAIST held its first public demonstration of a walking human type robot called HUBO in the school’s Taewoolguan yesterday after three years of research. HUBO is shown bending 10 fingers with primary school children. During the show, HUBO danced and played games with spectators. HUBO measures 125cm and weighs 55kg, and can walk 30cm at a time (left and right strides: 15cm), and can turn itself at an angle of 45 degrees. It has 41 joints and motors all over its body allowing it various body movements.
From: Introduction of Human Type Robot, “HUBO”, donga.com, February 23, 2005 22:40
Posted by sjc at 6:44 PM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2005
iPod Mini Hello Kitty Edition
iPod miniにハローキティバージョンが登場！
It's for real. The iPod Mini Hello Kitty Edition (2,000) comes fully accessorized - a carrying case, 3 beobrick key chains, and a beobrick.
iPod miniにハローキティバージョンが登場！
http://i-kitty.jp/index_pc.html
iPod mini 本体について
＊ 仕 様 ＊
http://www.apple.com/jp/ipodmini/specs.html
＊ 製品情報 ＊
http://www.apple.com/jp/itunes/
＊ トラブルシューティング ＊
http://www.apple.com/jp/support/ipod/troubleshoot/
Posted by sjc at 9:00 AM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2005
Do not disconnect.
You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
Phillip Torrone, Hacking the iPod firmware (changing the graphics), December 8, 2004. http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000610023097/
spotted by jwm.
Posted by sjc at 8:12 PM | Comments (0)
Virtual Girl Arrives in Singapore
Hong Kong, Feb. 2 -- Hong Kong-based Artificial Life, Inc. , a leading global provider of award winning mobile technology and applications, today announced that it has signed a contract with Singapore Telecom Mobile ("SingTel Mobile"), a leading regional telecom operator, to launch its award winning 3G product "V-Girl -- your virtual girlfriend" in Singapore.
The appearance of the V-Girl character and other multimedia game features in the game's launch version will be customized to suit local mobile users' preferences and culture in Singapore. With thousands of high quality 3-D animation video clips and audio streams, players will find every gaming experience to be unique. The sophisticated 3G game will have 20 game levels. Each level will pose different challenges to players, with the ultimate goal for them to date and even "marry" the virtual girlfriend. However, the game does not end at the "marriage" as it is designed as an ongoing interactive story that continuously evolves and develops.
Commenting on the launch, Mr Philip Wu, Director, Consumer Marketing, Content Strategy and Marketing, SingTel, said, " V-Girl is expected to have a large following as it boasts numerous features such as artificial intelligence, text-to-speech and real-time chat functionalities."
V-Girl lives in a realistic-looking 3-D animated world that players navigate around using their 3G phones. Players can visit a virtual disco, listen to music and individually invite V-Girl to watch movies in a movie theatre with them. As players court the virtual girl, she may even invite them to her virtual home. The developments in the game follow a detailed calendar of activities and tasks for players. Tasks can have real-time elements and can be linked to real calendar events such as local holidays.
[1] Virtual Girl Arrives in Singapore, Thu 03 Feb 2005, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/24/technology/24girlfriend.html
[3] Artificial Life, Inc. http://www.artificial-life.com/
[4] V-Girl, http://www.v-girl.com/
[5] SingTel Mobile, http://www.singtel.com/
Posted by sjc at 6:19 PM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2005
Robots Walk Like Humans
Researchers from Cornell University, the University of Delft, and MIT demonstrated bipedal robots that walk in a human-like manner.
Like Asimo (from Honda) and Qrio (from Sony), these robots have names: Cornell from Cornell, Denise from Delft, Toddler from MIT.
"Toddler is the smart one of the bunch. While the others rely on superb mechanical design, Toddler has a brain with less power than that of an ant, but it is able to learn new terrain, "allowing the robot to teach itself to walk in less than 20 minutes, or about 600 steps," scientists said."
[1] Robert Roy Britt and Tariq Malik, New Robots Walk Like Humans, LiveScience.Com, 17 February, 2004. Posted by sjc at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)
Robo-Rats Make Their Own Rules
Psychology professor Jeffrey Schank and mechanical and aeronautical engineering professor Sanjay Joshi, both of the University of California, Davis, designed an experiment to record the behavior of young rats and robots that were confined to the same basic sets of rules in a rectangular arena.
In this tests, robots programmed with no more sense than a blind, deaf baby rat developed new behaviors on their own.
The work could eventually lead to better robots, and it could help humans understand animal behavior, too.
[1] Bjorn Carey, Eek! Robo-Rats Make Their Own Rules, LiveScience, 16 February, 2005. http://www.livescience.com/technology/050216_robo_rat.html
Posted by sjc at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)
February 4, 2005
PSP comes to North America
The hands of Kaz Hirai, president and chief executive officer of Sony Computer Enterainment America Inc., hold a PlayStation Portable, known as PSP, during a news conference in Los Angeles Tuesday, May 11, 2004. Sony Corp. said Thursday, Feb. 3, 2005, it will release the PlayStation Portable in North America on March 24 and have 1 million units ready for sale in the first week. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
The PSP, which is heralded as an iPod challenger, includes a new optical disk format (1.8 gbyte capacity), a color lcd, etc. It sells for about $190 in Japan, but is expected to sell for $250 in the USA and $300 in Canada.
Posted by sjc at 9:55 AM | Comments (0)
February 2, 2005
Robot Rock 'n' Roll
Several hundred students and faculty, many with kids in tow, packed into an auditorium of the CMU University Center yesterday morning to see a half-hour Qrio demonstration. In addition to tai chi routines and several dances, Qrio also showed that it could find and kick a ball, recognize faces, and, if pushed over, get back up on its feet without assistance.
Byron Spice, "Sony's hip-shaking 'Qrio' gyrates for CMU students, faculty," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Saturday, January 29, 2005
"Sony is among several Japanese companies, including Honda and Kawada Industries, that are developing humanoid robots. This is in marked contrast to the United States and Europe, where robotics development has focused on adding autonomy to vehicles, aircraft and appliances rather than on building legged robots.
"One reason for the difference, Hideki Komiyama [president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics[ said, is simply that "the Japanese people like this type of thing." But humanoid robots, which combine sophisticated mechanics, software and sensors, also push several types of technology, elements of which end up in other Sony products, such as Playstations.
"Humanoid robots themselves could eventually become products, he said, perhaps serving as household aides in an increasingly aged Japanese society or simply acting as companions.
Posted by sjc at 5:54 PM | Comments (0)