The Osaka Kid: better, stronger, faster

He's back, and better than ever.

The wizards at Team Osaka, mentioned in an earlier post, have again unveiled an improved version of their champion soccer-playing robot, Vision. The past three versions came out winners in their RoboCup robot soccer tournament category. RoboCup's purpose is to develop a team of robot footballers that can beat the best humans at the sport by 2050 (and then take over the world...maybe).

Vision 4G can run 30% faster than its previous incarnation, its joints have 40% stronger torque, its has a lighter CPU and a new forward-looking camera, in addition to its 360-degree head cam, to better track the ball. There's a cool video of 4G showing off here.

A mechanical bedside manner

More Japanese companies are developing or planning to develop partner robots, especially in the field of medicine, according to a recent survey by Nikkei Inc.

About 56% of of 68 firms surveyed indicated they're in or may enter the partner robot business, up 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier. Medical care and nursing were the top applications, followed by play and entertainment, then receptionists and guides.

For instance, major Japanese security services firm Secom Co. has sold 200 units of My Spoon, a robotic tabletop eating assistant retailing for around 400,000 yen ($3,300). It's designed to help those who don't have use of their arms. While it's taken five years to reach 200, a new financial aid program by the Japanese Federation of Organizations of Disabled Persons may help sales.

Meanwhile, only 22% of the surveyed firms reported operating profit for 2006. High manufacturing costs and safety concerns were cited as the biggest obstacles to profitability. The former is reflected in relatively high per-unit prices for the category, between 500,00 and 1 million yen (about $4,000-8,000).

New must-have toy: Manoi PF01

Remote-control toy maker Kyosho has finally started advance shipping of Manoi PF01, the latest in its athlete humanoid robot series that began with the AT01 model.

Its very stylish exterior, a big nod to doe-eyed characters from anime, was designed by robot boy wonder Tomotaka Takahashi of Robo-Garage. PF01 also boasts 17 degrees of freedom, though it appears a little less rugged than the award-winning AT01. Kyosho has a video of PF01 doing victory poses here.

Kyosho is offering 150 units until regular sales begin in June, price tag: $1,600 (189,000 yen). Today I saw a few boxes at RT in Akihabara, one of eight retailers nationwide, but Lem Fugitt of Robots-Dreams was there to snap pics of the first customers getting theirs.

No doubt PF01 will make waves beyond the robot otaku crowd!

23-foot, fire-breathing robot art

It's three stories tall. It breathes fire. It has a baby's face.

Giant Torayan may be awkward at cocktail parties, but it keeps the conversation flowing. It's certainly one of the most striking pieces of Japanese robot art I've come across.

Sculptor Kenji Yanobe, known for mind-bending installations that incorporate subculture icons, created this titan in 2003 to give kids a thrill. Its "command device," also a baby's head, contains a computer that only responds to children's voices, giving them the reins to a pretty impressive flamethrower. Yanobe calls Torayan "the child's ultimate weapon."

Yanobe's work recently came up in a blog by Robot Museum in Nagoya President Masayoshi Ishiko, who thinks Torayan would be a great ambassador to promote Japanese robot culture in China! Shock and awe indeed.

Ishiko-san has told me about his big plans for robots in Japan on several occasions. Think traveling robot circuses and the like. I hope he branches out to the Tokyo area - his company Gyro Walk also runs the popular RoboCafe in Osaka.

Speaking of Kansai, if Kobe is to get its own giant robot, q.v., Tokyo needs one too. Torayan is perfect.