Robot developer tmsuk has unveiled a remote-control robot that promises a new way to shop from the comfort of home. A prototype of the telerobotic shopper — a modified TMSUK-4 humanoid robot that incorporates a variety of cellphone communications technology — was demonstrated on July 10 at the Izutsuya department store in the city of Kitakyushu, Japan.

In the demonstration, an unwell grandmother unable to go shopping with her granddaughter sent the robot in her place. Using an NTT DoCoMo video-capable cellphone, the grandmother was able to control the robot and enjoy the shopping experience through the robot’s camera eyes. As curious shoppers looked on, the woman maneuvered the robot to the hat section, eyed what was available on the shelf, and had her granddaughter model a few for her before deciding which one to purchase.

According to tmsuk, this innovative type of “3D communications” technology brings us a step closer to a future in which telerobotic shoppers roam the fashionable areas of cities like New York or London.

[Source: Data Max]

In this video, Dr. Norihiko Ishikawa of the Department of Telesurgery and Geomedicine at the University of Kanazawa demonstrates the precision of the daVinci Surgical System by using the device’s remote-control robot arms to fold a penny-sized origami crane. (Watch it.)

[Via: DVICE]

A research team led by Susumu Tachi from the University of Tokyo has developed a rotating panoramic display that immerses viewers in a 3D video environment. The Telexistence Wide-angle Immersive STEReoscope, or TWISTER, is the world’s first full-color 360-degree 3D display that does not require viewers to wear special glasses, says professor Tachi, who has spent over 10 years researching and developing the device.

Inside the 1.2 meter (4 ft) tall, 2 meter (6.5 ft) wide cylindrical display are 50,000 LEDs arranged in columns. As the display rotates around the observer’s head at a speed of 1.6 revolutions per second, these specially arranged LED columns show a slightly different image to each of the observer’s eyes, thus creating the illusion of a 3D image. In other words, TWISTER tricks the eye by exploiting what is known as “binocular parallax” — the apparent difference in position of an object as seen separately by the left eye and the right eye.

For now, TWISTER is capable of serving up pre-recorded 3D video from a computer, allowing viewers to experience things like virtual amusement park rides or close-up views of molecular models. However, the researchers are working to develop TWISTER’s 3D videophone capabilities by equipping it with a camera system that can capture real-time three-dimensional images of the person inside, which can then be sent to another TWISTER via fiber optics. In this way, two people separated by physical distance will be able to step into their TWISTERs to enjoy real-time 3D virtual interaction.

However, given TWISTER’s size, the first order of business might be to figure out how to fit it through your front door.

[Source: Asahi]

Researchers at NTT Comware have just made virtual reality a little more real. On June 20, the company unveiled a 3D display system that reproduces the physical feel of three-dimensional video by means of an actuator glove worn on the hand, allowing viewers to literally reach out and touch the person or object on the screen.

The so-called “Tangible-3D” prototype system is built around an improved version of NTT’s 3D display — originally developed in 2005 — which displays 3D images without requiring special glasses. The system relies on a pair of cameras that capture and process data about the position, shape and size of objects as they are filmed. As the two video images are combined into a 3D image that is displayed on the screen at the receiving end, the data is relayed to the glove, whose array of actuators translate it into a tactile impression the user can feel. The glove operates in real-time along with the 3D video, so the user can “feel” the on-screen image as it moves.

For now, the Tangible-3D system only works in one direction, but NTT Comware is developing a two-way system that allows tactile impressions to be transmitted back and forth between multiple users. The company is also working to improve the 3D screen, which only appears three-dimensional from a particular viewing angle.

While the possibilities for this technology are endless, NTT Comware suggests it could be put to use in museum exhibits that would allow visitors to handle items on display that are ordinarily off-limits. The company also says this technology could be put to use in classrooms, where it would allow students to touch objects located very far away.

NTT Comware will exhibit the Tangible-3D system at the Industrial Virtual Reality Expo being held at Tokyo Big Sight from June 27 to 29.

[Source: NTT Comware press release via Mainichi]

NTT-Neomeit, an NTT subisidiary, has unveiled plans for a convenient and inexpensive service that allows users to remotely control home devices from their cellphones. Scheduled for launch in September, the “U-Consento” service is designed to be compatible with a wide range of existing home appliances, so users do not need to purchase new devices or perform extensive home rewiring.

To control devices, users access a web page via cellphone and select the desired operations. The commands are then sent via the web to a wireless router in the home, which relays signals to an infrared transmitter and remote control power switches. The infrared transmitter, which operates like a universal remote, relays those signals to remote controllable devices such as home A/V equipment. Easy-to-install remote control switches connected to power outlets allow users to turn on and off the power to lamps and other devices not pre-equipped with remote control.

In addition to being able to control the room temperature, blast the stereo and program the video recorder — all while outside the home — users can also check the current operating status of each device and view records of how each device has been used. According to NTT-Neomeit, this ability to monitor device usage provides a convenient way for users to keep tabs on the activity of their elderly parents from afar.

NTT-Neomeit plans to rent the home remote control system starting at around 500 yen ($4) per month, and service will initially be limited to NTT broadband subscribers in western Japan. Pilot testing will be conducted in the Kansai area from May to August.

[Source: Yomiuri, NTT-Neomeit press release]

On November 6, GS Yuasa and the University of Tokyo unveiled a system that ascertains the “mood” of a room by monitoring a variety of factors — including the feelings and behavior of the people in the room — and relays the mood data to remote terminals where it is expressed as colored LED light.

The system, called SHOJI (Symbiotic Hosting Online Jog Instrument), is similar in concept to KOTOHANA (developed by NEC and SGI), which are pairs of flower-shaped terminals that share data and change color according to emotion detected in voice patterns.

Like KOTOHANA, the SHOJI system consists of a pair of terminals placed at separate locations. Each terminal is equipped with a full-color LED array, a microphone and five sensors (developed at the University of Tokyo) that detect light, temperature, humidity, infrared radiation and ultrasonic waves. In addition to constantly measuring the room’s environmental conditions, SHOJI terminals can detect the presence and movement of people, body temperature, and the nature of the activity in the room.

Each SHOJI terminal constantly sends the room’s mood data over the Internet to the other terminal, where it is expressed as colored light on the LED array. By checking the color of light on the SHOJI terminal, users can easily understand the mood in the other room.

SHOJI’s display consists of 10 rows of LEDs that emit colors corresponding to different emotions — red for anger, blue for sadness, yellow for happiness, and green for peace. The display also provides a clear indication of mood shifts, with the top 5 rows representing the current mood of the room and the bottom 5 representing the recent past.

GS Yuasa will soon put SHOJI to a series of field tests at Tokyo-area companies, allowing head office managers to keep tabs on the mood at branch offices (and vice-versa). Tests are also planned at hospitals and in residential settings.

With the product release scheduled for April 2007, GS Yuasa plans to market SHOJI to companies at a price of between 300,000 to 400,000 yen ($2,500 to $3,300).

[Source: Fuji Sankei]

Geminoid is a remote-control doppelganger droid designed by and modeled after Hiroshi Ishiguro, professor at Osaka University and researcher at ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories. Robot Watch has released some short videos, which you can see at the links below. Video format is WMV.

Video 1: Ishiguro introduces himself through Geminoid.

Video 2: This segment shows Geminoid’s facial movements. The telepresent Ishiguro explains, “When someone touches Geminoid, it seems as if I am the one being touched.”

Video 3: Geminoid (Ishiguro) doesn’t like it when you touch his face.

Video 4: Geminoid is programmed so that his head continues to move, even when not being specifically controlled.

Video 5: Sitting next to Geminoid, Ishiguro discusses his research concerning “presence.”

In Latin, gemin means “twin” or “double,” while –oid is a suffix indicating a “likeness to something else.” Hiroshi Ishiguro would say that his Geminoid is like a twin. The body is a copy of Ishiguro’s, and the shape of Geminoid’s skull was created based on MRI scans of Ishiguro’s head. And Geminoid shares some of his mannerisms.

Geminoid’s body, which was produced by Kokoro, makers of the Actroid line of fembots, has 46 degrees of freedom and is driven by a system of air compressors. The skin consists of soft, silicone rubber. Confined to a chair at the moment, the android is unable to stand up and move about on his own. Communication and power cables exit his rear end and snake through the shaft of the chair out of sight. It took 6 months of work to develop the body and about 2 to 3 months to develop the software.

One of the purposes for creating Geminoid is to explore the concept of tele-existence — to figure out what is needed in order to copy an actual human’s “presence” so that he or she may exist in two places at once. “I wonder how possible it is to separate one’s inner self and outer self, to create distance between one’s body and soul,” Ishiguro says.

See more photos of Geminoid at the link below.

[Source: Robot Watch]

NEC, NEC Design and SGI Japan have teamed up to develop KOTOHANA, flower-shaped terminals that use LED light to remotely communicate human emotions.

Each KOTOHANA set consists of two flower-shaped terminals equipped with LEDs that change color according to the emotions of the person who owns the counterpart. Each flower contains a microphone that captures voice data for processing, the results of which are sent via wireless LAN to the other terminal, where it is expressed as LED light.

KOTOHANA’s Sensibility Technology (ST) emotion recognition engine, which was developed by SGI Japan with the cooperation of AGI, detects joy, sorrow, calmness and excitement in speech patterns. Happiness is expressed as yellow, sadness as blue, calmness as green, and excitement as red. Changing emotions are expressed through subtle color gradations and variations in light brightness.

The product is still in the prototype stage, with the ST engine running on a separate computer connected to KOTOHANA. NEC plans to showcase KOTOHANA at CeBIT, the international trade show for information and telecommunications technology to be held from March 9 to 15 in Hannover, Germany.

[Source: Yahoo! News Japan via japan.internet.com]