Batter up! Robot baseball takes a swing

It's good to see the recession in Japan hasn't killed robot research, even though many machines are now standing idle, as the New York Times reported recently.

The University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Information Science and Technology has produced a pitcher and batter robot duo that quick and precise.

The pitcher machine can send the ball into the strike zone 90% of the time. The batter, meanwhile, uses imaging technology that captures 1,000 frames per second to enable it to connect to the ball.

All they need is uniforms and they'll be ready for the big leagues.

If only Japanese kitchens were this big

A new experimental home robot unveiled by the University of Tokyo and partner Toyota Motor is designed to clean floors, clear serving dishes, pick up clothing and do a variety of other drudgery that will surely inspire a robot revolution one day. But can it be anything more than an expensive demo?

The Home Assistant Robot (HAR) moves around on a wheeled base, has six-jointed hands and laser range finders and stereo cameras to understand its environment; a failure detection function helps it learn from its mistakes. The robot can manipulate furniture and is pretty mean with a sponge mop. Unfortunately, ordinary Japanese kitchens are only a quarter the size of the one in the demo photo, so HAR would have to slim down from its 130 kg (286 lbs) to tackle the real world.

Honda took the wraps off Asimo eight years ago now, and last year its lead engineer told me it would be another decade before it goes to market. HAR would not be commercialized for another seven years, according to the research consortium, and my guess is it would be extremely expensive if that ever happens - so maybe the people who could afford one will have really big kitchens.

More HAR pics here.