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30-06-2014, 08:07 AM
Domo arigato, Mr Roboto
Published on Jun 30, 2014 1:24 AM
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TOKYO - Industrial robots, which came into common use in the 1960s among United States car manufacturers, include one-armed machines that can be programmed to perform tasks such as welding or die-casting.
Japan took to industrial robots in a big way. It is the biggest user of industrial robots today, with more than 300,000 of them in operation in the country, accounting for more than a quarter of all industrial robots in the world.
Japan is also using robots increasingly in areas other than manufacturing - these are often called service robots - but the term covers a wide range of machines.
Automatic vacuum cleaners such as Sharp's Cocorobo - programmed to clean the house and exhibiting a degree of autonomy while doing its work - are service robots.
So are Cyberdyne's robotic power suits. These detect weak electrical pulses running along the skin when the wearer's brain commands his limb to move, and move in concert with it, providing much more power than the limb is able to do so on its own.
Then there is Softbank's Pepper, a companion robot equipped with sensors that help it "read" human emotions based on facial expressions and tone of voice. It has artificial intelligence that enables it to learn from its interactions with its human companions.
The life-size, human-like news-reading Kodomoroid, created by Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro from Osaka University, is also a service robot.
With such a wide range of forms as well as application areas, service robots are difficult to define, noted the International Federation of Robotics. It is closely involved in the definition of robots, with members drawn from national robotics associations, and businesses, universities and research centres engaged in robotics.
HAU BOON LAI
Published on Jun 30, 2014 1:24 AM
PRINT EMAIL
TOKYO - Industrial robots, which came into common use in the 1960s among United States car manufacturers, include one-armed machines that can be programmed to perform tasks such as welding or die-casting.
Japan took to industrial robots in a big way. It is the biggest user of industrial robots today, with more than 300,000 of them in operation in the country, accounting for more than a quarter of all industrial robots in the world.
Japan is also using robots increasingly in areas other than manufacturing - these are often called service robots - but the term covers a wide range of machines.
Automatic vacuum cleaners such as Sharp's Cocorobo - programmed to clean the house and exhibiting a degree of autonomy while doing its work - are service robots.
So are Cyberdyne's robotic power suits. These detect weak electrical pulses running along the skin when the wearer's brain commands his limb to move, and move in concert with it, providing much more power than the limb is able to do so on its own.
Then there is Softbank's Pepper, a companion robot equipped with sensors that help it "read" human emotions based on facial expressions and tone of voice. It has artificial intelligence that enables it to learn from its interactions with its human companions.
The life-size, human-like news-reading Kodomoroid, created by Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro from Osaka University, is also a service robot.
With such a wide range of forms as well as application areas, service robots are difficult to define, noted the International Federation of Robotics. It is closely involved in the definition of robots, with members drawn from national robotics associations, and businesses, universities and research centres engaged in robotics.
HAU BOON LAI