Archives of “humanoid robot” tag

rss

The robot waiter will take your order now

  
Analysis, Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

Chinese-made androids arriving in Japan

Catering androids developed by China’s Kunshan Pangolin Robot.

 China’s Kunshan Pangolin Robot is bringing its android waiters to Japanese restaurants, with the assistance of an engineering university here.

Pangolin will set up a Japanese arm as soon as this month that will handle sales and maintenance. The company will then establish in April a research and development facility within the premises of the University of Electro-Communications. UEC’s Campus Create, which aims to transfer advanced technologies to companies for commercial use, will provide support for Pangolin’s Japanese venture.

 The Chinese robot firm also inked a memorandum of understanding on mutual cooperation with Japanese peer Kikuchi Seisakusho.
 Pangolin’s serverbots start at 500,000 yen ($4,380) apiece. Nagasaki’s Dutch-themed Huis Ten Bosch theme park is considering adopting the androids at its robot-staffed Henn-Na Restaurant.

Pangolin is headquartered in the eastern Chinese city of Kunshan, which is also home to the factory producing the robots. With a sales network stretching across the mainland, the company is seen holding 70% of the Chinese market in waiter robots.  

Toyota's new robot avatar could go where humans can't

  
Analysis, Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

 — Toyota Motor has developed a humanoid robot that mimics its controller’s movements at a distance, a technology with potential applications ranging from nursing care to space travel.

The T-HR3 robot unveiled Tuesday is controlled by an operator seated in what the automaker calls the Master Maneuvering System. Equipment worn on the arms, legs and hands reads the user’s movements and maps them to the robot.

A head-mounted display lets the operator see through the robot’s camera, allowing for interaction with its environment — picking up objects, for example. Sensor-equipped joint modules let the user feel outside force applied to the robot.

Though the current version of the robot must be connected to the control system by cable, Toyota plans to develop a wireless link. The company envisions the robot performing work in such dangerous locations as disaster areas or outer space, as well as providing assistance in the home or medical facilities.

The automaker will showcase the T-HR3 at the four-day International Robot Exhibition here starting Nov. 29.

This is hardly Toyota’s first foray into robotics. In April, the company started rentals of a system designed to help patients suffering from leg paralysis learn to walk again.

Go to top