Osaka startup releases updated robot doll to keep seniors company
An Osaka-based startup founded by health care product group Fujimoto Holding Co. and toymaker Wiz Co. has released an upgraded version of a stuffed robot doll designed to be a conversation partner for elderly people. The new Unazuki Kabochan, released June 17, has been programmed ...
Cyberdine Inc.'s Hybrid Assistive Limb exoskeleton suit holds great promise for mobility-challenged people in rapidly graying Japan.
Can you call the stock market? Equity analyst says he can
On the 10th day of every month, Junsuke Senoguchi has just one thing on his mind: the closing level of the Nikkei average. That is because Senoguchi, an unassuming man in his late 40s, has built a machine that has been predicting the direction of ...
SoftBank's Pepper robot now has emotions, Son claims
After months of delay, SoftBank Corp. announced Thursday that it would make Pepper, its humanoid robot, available to the general public on Saturday, but with an extra twist. This version of Pepper will have its own emotions. "For the first time, we have successfully given emotion ...
Softbank's Pepper robot debuts as coffee machine salesman at Bic Camera
Looking sharp and professional in a black vest and bow tie, a humanoid robot showed up for its first day of work at a new job Monday selling coffee machines for food giant Nestle Japan Ltd. "By simply answering my questions, I can tell which ...
Robot jazz singer serenades audience in Tokyo
Who says you need soul to sing jazz? A humanoid robot vocalist was the centerpiece of an ensemble serenading onlookers at the Marunouchi Building near Tokyo Station on Wednesday. Viewed from a distance, the band looked like a regular quartet. Up close, the alluring female singer ...
Robot team turns dreams to reality with Skeletonics
Every self-respecting fan of robots, or even animations featuring robots, has at some point dreamed of strapping themselves into an exoskeleton and emulating their favorite anime heroes. The Skeletonics robot suit, developed by 24-year-old Reyes Tatsuru Shiroku and other members of the 2008 Robocon robot ...
Yoshimoto Kogyo's role in creating a real-life robot with a sense of humor
With big, round, smiling eyes and a shirt and bow tie displayed on the screen on his chest, humanoid robot Pepper is ready to entertain his guests. Music begins to play, and Pepper shows off his moves to the 1960s hit song "The Loco-Motion" ...
Advances in robotics present singular worry
"Singularity" is an odd word. Originally it meant peculiarity. Then 20th-century physicists got hold of it and situated it at the very boundary of space-time, to the eternal bafflement of the lay mind.
SoftBank unveils 'historic' robot
SoftBank Corp. unveiled on Thursday what it says is the world's first humanoid robot that can communicate and read people's emotions, and said it will go on sale to the general public next year. CEO Masayoshi Son told a news conference in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, ...
Hitachi Ltd. and Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd. say they have developed robots to detect cooling water leakage points and the condition of nuclear fuel at the disaster-struck Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. One robot can move through narrow pipes by changing shape and another can ...
Honda's robotics tech headed for homes of the future
As technology evolves, every household is predicted to have at least one robot in the future, just as many of today's consumers feel incomplete without Internet access or a mobile phone. That's the future envisioned by Honda Motor Co., and with the progress being chalked ...
