A trio of old-school bunraku puppet robots revived nearly 40 years after they were unveiled at the 1970 World Expo in Osaka are temporarily on display at the National Science Museum in Tokyo. Modeled after classic bunraku puppets, each pre-programmed robot is driven by around 20 pneumatic cylinders that move the arms, torso, head and face in sync with accompanying audio.
Here's some video of one whose face transforms into that of a demon:
A few more photos of the other robots, which are on display at the Science Museum until February 8:
Timothy
That is ridiculously scary
[]Cory
Nuts! I'm going in November, and those would have been cool to see!
[]Apple Otaku
Creepy in a cyborg kind of way.
[]Joanne
Are these Bunraku puppets or are they Karakuri?
[]dora dreyer
thank you so much...
[]桃子
文楽はほんとうにおもしろいですね。今、私は日本語のクラスのために、リポートを書いています。
[]Hannah
That was so awesome but so creepy. How do you do the thing with the face? I have to do a project in drama and I have to make a puppet. I think I want to make a bunraku because these puppets are intense.
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