Tag: ‘Mitsubishi’

Mitsubishi unveils walk-in panoramic display

01 Nov 2007

Mitsubishi panoramic display --

On October 31, Mitsubishi Electric unveiled a 2-meter tall, 7.5-meter diameter panoramic display system consisting of synchronized rear-projection displays arranged in a wall that encircles the viewer. The 150 million yen ($1.3 million) system, which was built-to-order at the company's Kyoto factory where it was unveiled, consists of 17 pairs of 67-inch panels arranged in a 340-degree near-circle -- the 20-degree gap presumably allows the viewer to enter and exit the walk-in display. The system uses Texas Instruments Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology and has a total resolution of 27 million (1024 x 768 x 34) pixels.

At the unveiling, Mitsubishi said it will deliver the panoramic display system to the customer early next year, but the company was unwilling to say who the customer was or how they intend to use the display. However, Mitsubishi did say it hopes to begin selling the system as a virtual reality display for use at museums or in applications such as traffic simulations.

[Source: Iza!]

Human resource agency hires Wakamaru robot receptionists

12 Jul 2007

Wakamaru ---

When Mitsubishi put its Wakamaru receptionist robot up for hire last month, it was clearly just a matter of time before the droid would actually find work. On July 11, People Staff, a major temporary staffing agency based in Nagoya, announced it has accepted 10 of the robots as dispatch workers and is ready to send them out to work at businesses and institutions in the Tokai area of central Japan.

The 1-meter (3 ft. 3 in.) tall, 30-kilogram (66 lb.) Wakamaru, who moves around on wheels and features a bright yellow shell and kooky smile, was developed in 2003 by Mitusbishi, who wanted to create a servant robot able to carry out a range of household chores. Wakamaru appeared at the World Expo in Aichi in 2005, and has since become one of Japan's most recognizable robots.

In terms of job skills, Wakamaru can recognize faces, carry on simple conversations with a vocabulary of 10,000 words, and perform simple manual tasks. More importantly for its expected job as a receptionist in offices and hospitals, Wakamaru is adept at thanking visitors for waiting and can sing songs as it shows the visitors to their destination within the building.

Wakamaru's paycheck can reach as high as 120,000 yen ($1,000) per day for short-term gigs, but the wage decreases dramatically for longer-term contracts, to as low as 3 million yen ($25,000) for one year, which is on par with a flesh-and-bone human temp worker.

A spokesperson for People Staff said, "As Japan's labor shortage expands, we would like to create an environment where humans and robots can work more closely together."

No word yet on whether People Staff has any plans to change the company name.

[Source: Sankei Web]

Giant video screen constructed at Tokyo-area horse track

25 Jul 2006

World's largest display

Mitsubishi Electric has completed construction of the world's largest high-definition video screen at a horse track in Tokyo. The screen employs Mitsubishi's Aurora Vision LED technology and measures 11.2 meters (37 feet) x 66.4 meters (218 feet), giving it a surface area of 744 square meters (8,000+ square feet), or the equivalent of 3 tennis courts. Mitsubishi manufactured the screen for the Japan Racing Association (JRA) at its Nagasaki factory in the town of Togitsu, Nagasaki prefecture. The screen was divided into 35 pieces for delivery to the Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu, Tokyo.

The bright, high-definition display is 3 times larger than what was previously installed at the horse track, and the screen's three sections allow the audience to take in the action at other tracks. Total cost is reported to be 3.2 billion yen (US$28 million).

[Source: Asahi Shimbun]

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UPDATE: Check out this Fuji TV news report on YouTube. The video shows an athletic reporter sprinting from one end of the 2,651-inch monster to the other (in 12.8 seconds). You'd have to stack 1,550 32-inch TVs to match the size of this screen. [Via: TV in Japan]

“Robo-carp” rehearses for public debut

14 Apr 2006

The robotic koi carp unveiled last month by a group of Hiroshima engineering companies (led by Ryomei Engineering) is scheduled to make its first public appearance this weekend.

It was spotted during rehearsal in a large tank at Miyajima Aquarium (in Hatsukaichi city in Hiroshima prefecture), practicing its trademark moves of spinning around, treading water, and swimming in reverse. The robot appeared to be getting along will with the other fish in the tank -- an alligator gar and three endangered pirarucu that measure over 2 meters in length.

?It looks like a robot, but it behaves like a real fish,? said one surprised onlooker.

Public demonstrations of the robot will be held at the aquarium this weekend (April 15 - 16).

[Source: Chugoku Shimbun]