Pink Tentacle (56)

Robovie droid helps lost shoppers

25 Jan 2008

Robovie --

The Osaka-based Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR) has developed a crowd-monitoring humanoid robot that recognizes when people are lost and helps them find their way.

In a series of demonstrations conducted from January 22 to 24, a souped-up version of ATR's Robovie humanoid robot monitored people as they passed through a 100 square meter (1,076 sq ft) section of the Universal Citywalk Osaka shopping center. Relying on data from 16 cameras, 6 laser range finders and 9 RFID tag readers installed in and around the area, the robot was able to watch up to 20 people at a time, pinpoint their locations to within a few centimeters, and classify each individual's behavior into one of 10 categories (waiting, wandering, walking fast, running, etc.).

Robovie -- Whenever Robovie spotted people who looked disoriented, the child-sized droid wheeled up to them and asked, "Are you lost?" If so, the robot provided simple directions to the destination and pointed the way. If not, the robot proceeded to recommend nearby shops and restaurants.

ATR says the Robovie test is the first in a long series of robot-related demonstrations to be conducted at Universal Citywalk Osaka. This week, the company announced it was establishing a permanent base in the shopping center, which will serve as a real-world environment for testing new robot-oriented business ideas. In June, the company plans to start hiring out its machines to companies toying with the idea of employing robots.

[Sources: Robot Watch, Yomiuri, Nikkei]

7 Comments

Octopi hung out to dry

25 Jan 2008

Dried octopus --

It is a common sight in winter to see octopi hanging out to dry along sidewalks in the town of Toba (Mie prefecture), according to the caption for this image from the Toba Photo Gallery.

[Link to full image]

16 Comments

Boy hacker scams 36 mil yen for virtual dress

24 Jan 2008

Blessed Elegant Gothic Dress -- A 16-year-old male gamer infatuated with the gothic dress worn by the fictional princess in an online role-playing game has been arrested for hacking into the game company's servers and scamming a boatload of virtual money.

On January 24, Tokyo Metropolitan Police officers from the "Hi-Tech Crimes Control Center" arrested the high school student from Fukui, Japan and charged him with illegally accessing the website of Tokyo-based game company NEXON and stealing over 36 million yen ($325,000) worth of virtual currency used in the Mabinogi online role-playing game. The money can be used to purchase virtual items in the game, and it can be converted into real-world cash.

According to investigators, the suspect used software from an illegal website to obtain the ID and password of a former NEXON employee, which he used to access the company's servers from his home computer last October. Once inside NEXON's system, he registered a new ID and password and began filling his coffers with the in-game money.

While most of the loot went unused, the suspect allegedly converted 7 million points into about 600,000 yen ($5,500) worth of web money, which he used to purchase books and software.

The suspect has reportedly fessed up to the crime. "I originally wanted the dress worn by the princess," he admitted, "but I just ended up racking up a bunch of game points."

[Source: Nikkan Sports]

40 Comments

Larva Chocolate looks sick, tastes sweet

22 Jan 2008

Larva chocolate --

A unique chocolate made to look like a beetle larva has captured the fancy of candy aficionados in Japan. Produced by the Komatsuya confectionery and bakery based in Akita prefecture, the bite-sized Larva Chocolates (Youchu Choco) have a grub-shaped body made from milk chocolate and corn flakes, a layer of skin made from white chocolate, legs made from tiny strips of dried squid, and a dainty mouth made from orange peel. Komatsuya, which is struggling to keep up with demand, hand-produces about 400 per day and sells them online (shipping in Japan only) for 210 yen ($2) each. The company also offers up the repulsive-yet-cute candy grubs at product fairs, where they tend to get snapped up in a hurry. Larva Chocolates are now available in Tokyo at the Chocolate and Sweets Expo, which is being held at Sunshine City (Ikebukuro) until March 9.

[Source: Akita Keizai Shimbun]

7 Comments

Video: Nobuo Takahashi’s animated landscapes

21 Jan 2008

Musashino Plateau --

"Musashino Plateau" and "Japan" -- a pair of 3D computer animations directed by Nobuo Takahashi -- illustrate (in dramatic fashion) how Japan's landscape changed during the postwar period of rapid economic growth. The animations begin slowly with the early postwar recovery years, but the pace quickens to a frenzy as explosive growth during the bubble years (late '80s/early '90s) transforms the cityscape into a chaotic, tightly packed jumble of single-family homes, large apartment complexes and high-rise buildings. In the end, development grinds to a halt with the collapse of the bubble.

Video 1: Musashino Plateau

Video 2: Japan

[Source: Yoshida Gakuen Joho Business]

6 Comments

H.R. Giger’s creatures in ’80s Pioneer ads

21 Jan 2008

In 1984-1985, Pioneer featured the designs of H.R. Giger in a series of Japanese magazine ads for their Zone home entertainment system.

H.R. Giger Pioneer ad --
[Enlarge]

5 Comments

Fantastic Japanscapes

17 Jan 2008

The Japanese landscape makes a stunning subject for high dynamic range (HDR) photography, as demonstrated by these images and the 500+ others in the Japan HDR Flickr Photo Pool.

HDR Japan --
Nihonbashi [Tokyo] -- Photo: Altus

HDR Japan --
Wave Gate [Numazu] -- Photo: Altus

HDR Japan --
Cloudy Day in Gotokuji [Tokyo] -- Photo: stu72

HDR Japan --
No.6 [Kanagawa prefecture] -- Photo: dokool

HDR Japan --
Machinery [Nippori station, Tokyo] -- Photo: heiwa4126

HDR Japan --
Landmark Tower and Minato Mirai 21 [Yokohama] -- Photo: shinnygogo

HDR Japan --
Shibuya Backstreet [Tokyo] -- Photo: yongfook

11 Comments

Origami spaceplane to launch from space station

16 Jan 2008

Origami spaceplane --

Researchers from the University of Tokyo have teamed up with members of the Japan Origami Airplane Association to develop a paper aircraft capable of surviving the flight from the International Space Station to the Earth's surface.

The researchers are scheduled to begin testing the strength and heat resistance of an 8 centimeter (3.1 in) long prototype on January 17 in an ultra-high-speed wind tunnel at the University of Tokyo's Okashiwa campus (Chiba prefecture). In the tests, the origami glider -- which is shaped like the Space Shuttle and has been treated to withstand intense heat -- will be subjected to wind speeds of Mach 7, or about 8,600 kilometers (5,300 miles) per hour.

A large spacecraft such as the Space Shuttle can reach speeds of up to Mach 20 (over 15,200 mph) when it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, and friction with the air heats the outer surface to extreme temperatures. The much lighter origami aircraft, which the researchers claim will come down more slowly, is not expected to burn up on re-entry.

No launch date has been set for the paper spaceplane, but Shinji Suzuki, an aerospace engineering professor at the University of Tokyo, is thinking ahead. "We hope the space station crew will write a message of peace on the plane before they launch it," says Suzuki. "We don't know where in the world the plane will land, but we hope that whoever finds it will contact us."

[Source: Asahi]