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Pacific Rim director pays tribute to Tokyo’s iconic Gundam statue

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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I haven’t yet had a chance to see Guillermo del Toro’s latest film, Pacific Rim, but from the clips I’ve seen so far of the epic robot and monster battles, it looks like it’s going to be great. Of course a film like this obviously owes much to early Godzilla monster movies, but also to the country’s tradition of giant mechanized robots and suits. Recently del Toro visited Odaiba here in Tokyo to check out the iconic Gundam statue erected there, according to Japanese media (via ANN). The director explains that one of his characters, Cherno Alpha, was actually inspired by Gundam’s Zaku [1]. del Toro is clearly in awe, almost as if he has made a pilgrimage to see it. Here’s the entire clip below: But of course Japan has lots more to offer in the giant robot department, for anyone who wants to see. Suidobashi Heavy Industries’ Kuratas mecha is perhaps the most awesome example, standing 3.8 meters high, able to be piloted by a human passenger (pictured bottom left). If you’d like something a little on the lighter side, Sakajibara Machinery Works has a mecha suit that can be piloted by kids, appropriately called Kid’s Walker. That…

I haven’t yet had a chance to see Guillermo del Toro’s latest film, Pacific Rim, but from the clips I’ve seen so far of the epic robot and monster battles, it looks like it’s going to be great. Of course a film like this obviously owes much to early Godzilla monster movies, but also to the country’s tradition of giant mechanized robots and suits.

Recently del Toro visited Odaiba here in Tokyo to check out the iconic Gundam statue erected there, according to Japanese media (via ANN). The director explains that one of his characters, Cherno Alpha, was actually inspired by Gundam’s Zaku [1]. del Toro is clearly in awe, almost as if he has made a pilgrimage to see it. Here’s the entire clip below:

But of course Japan has lots more to offer in the giant robot department, for anyone who wants to see. Suidobashi Heavy Industries’ Kuratas mecha is perhaps the most awesome example, standing 3.8 meters high, able to be piloted by a human passenger (pictured bottom left).

If you’d like something a little on the lighter side, Sakajibara Machinery Works has a mecha suit that can be piloted by kids, appropriately called Kid’s Walker. That suit is much smaller but is still a pretty great real-life example (bottom right).

And of course, we can’t forget the (in)famous Robot Restaurant, a must-see for any robo-tourist coming to Japan.

kuratas kids-walker

Photos: Design you trust, Isstek.

  1. del Toro has also cited Tetsujin 28 as an inspiration as well.  ↩

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Japanese Raspberry Pi robot reaches Kickstarter goal in 2 days

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer, capable of many of the same functions as your desktop PC. And Tokyo-based gadget creator Kiluck has unveiled a cool humanoid robot that can work with the miniature computer. On Thursday began a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for its production. As of right now, it has been more than three days since the launch on the crowdfunding site, and the robot ‘fanufacturing’ project has raised more than £25,000 (about $38,600), exceeding the original target of £20,000 ($30,900). The new robot is called Rapiro, and was developed by Kiluck in collaboration with three Japanese manufacturing companies. The startup’s founder, Shota Ishiwatari, is also known for having developed Necomimi, a wearable cat-ear device that moves in accordance with your brainwave activity. Some of our readers may have seen the device at various tech conferences around the world. In combination with Raspberry Pi, Kiluck’s new widget lets you create a new friend of your own for a total cost of less than $500. The the product is expected to ship at the end of this year.

kiluck_logo

Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer, capable of many of the same functions as your desktop PC. And Tokyo-based gadget creator Kiluck has unveiled a cool humanoid robot that can work with the miniature computer. On Thursday began a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for its production.

As of right now, it has been more than three days since the launch on the crowdfunding site, and the robot ‘fanufacturing’ project has raised more than £25,000 (about $38,600), exceeding the original target of £20,000 ($30,900).

rapiro

The new robot is called Rapiro, and was developed by Kiluck in collaboration with three Japanese manufacturing companies. The startup’s founder, Shota Ishiwatari, is also known for having developed Necomimi, a wearable cat-ear device that moves in accordance with your brainwave activity. Some of our readers may have seen the device at various tech conferences around the world.

In combination with Raspberry Pi, Kiluck’s new widget lets you create a new friend of your own for a total cost of less than $500. The the product is expected to ship at the end of this year.

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Japan’s ‘Social Party Robot Band’ has a killer guitarist, will melt your face off!

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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See our report on this story in Japanese There appears to be no end to the things that Japan can do with robots. While many robots are for practical purposes on assembly lines, there are also some really fun robots out there too. Take for example, Z-Machines, the first ‘social party robot band’, which is scheduled to make its debut on June 24th at the Liquid Room in Ebisu, Tokyo. As you can see in their demo video above, the robot guitarist looks especially bad-ass, capable of playing at a speed of up to 1184 bpm. There’s there are no shortage of picks or nimble fingers in this mechanized setup, although I’m curious to see what the entire band looks like up close. The band’s profile shows a trio, including a keyboard robot and a drum robot too. I’m not sure if they will look much like the promotional graphics (see below), but I really hope so! So what kind of music will the band play? That’s where the ‘social’ aspect comes into play. Leading up to its June 24th debut, Z-Machines will be accepting song submissions from aspiring musicians (in wav or midi formats) on PC or by using…

See our report on this story in Japanese

There appears to be no end to the things that Japan can do with robots. While many robots are for practical purposes on assembly lines, there are also some really fun robots out there too. Take for example, Z-Machines, the first ‘social party robot band’, which is scheduled to make its debut on June 24th at the Liquid Room in Ebisu, Tokyo.

As you can see in their demo video above, the robot guitarist looks especially bad-ass, capable of playing at a speed of up to 1184 bpm. There’s there are no shortage of picks or nimble fingers in this mechanized setup, although I’m curious to see what the entire band looks like up close. The band’s profile shows a trio, including a keyboard robot and a drum robot too. I’m not sure if they will look much like the promotional graphics (see below), but I really hope so!

So what kind of music will the band play? That’s where the ‘social’ aspect comes into play. Leading up to its June 24th debut, Z-Machines will be accepting song submissions from aspiring musicians (in wav or midi formats) on PC or by using the Nana smartphone app [1]. The lucky winner will have their song played by Z-Machines during its debut.

The concept comes as part of a promotion for Zima, under the supervision of Tokyo University professor Yoichi Kawaguchi. Judging by his previous work, this looks like it will be quite a show!

z-machines-robot-band

  1. Readers may recall that we featured Nana – an app that lets musicians collaborate on projects together using their smartphones – just a few days ago.  ↩

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Robot dog from Japan plays dead if your socks stink

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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Crazy Labo and Next Technology, LLC., two startups from Japan’s western city of Fukuoka, have jointly invented a couple of scent detection robots.  One is the human-looking Kaori-chan, and the other – Shuntaro – is made to resemble a dog.  The lady robot is designed to measure the whether or not your breath smells ok, in the interests of promoting oral hygiene. When you breathe on her, she will respond with one of four different behaviors. If your breathe is ok, you will hear a chime that tells you are okay. If it’s not great, she rings another chime to indicate as much. But if your breath has some serious problems, she will be screaming. And if it really stinks completely, she will look like she’s out of order. As for Shuntaro the dog, he measures how much your socks smell. And similarly, there are four ways that he will react. If he finds your socks smell nice, he will come a little closer to you. If the smell is not so great, he will look at you and bark several times. If you smell really bad, he will snarl. And if you smell especially awful (ru-roh!), he will play dead….

Breath scent detection robot "Kaori-chan"(Photo: RKB Radio blog)
Breath scent detection robot “Kaori-chan”
(Photo: RKB Radio Broadcasting’s blog)

Crazy Labo and Next Technology, LLC., two startups from Japan’s western city of Fukuoka, have jointly invented a couple of scent detection robots.  One is the human-looking Kaori-chan, and the other – Shuntaro – is made to resemble a dog. 

The lady robot is designed to measure the whether or not your breath smells ok, in the interests of promoting oral hygiene. When you breathe on her, she will respond with one of four different behaviors. If your breathe is ok, you will hear a chime that tells you are okay. If it’s not great, she rings another chime to indicate as much. But if your breath has some serious problems, she will be screaming. And if it really stinks completely, she will look like she’s out of order.

shuntaro
Shuntaro (Photo: RKB Radio)

As for Shuntaro the dog, he measures how much your socks smell. And similarly, there are four ways that he will react. If he finds your socks smell nice, he will come a little closer to you.

If the smell is not so great, he will look at you and bark several times. If you smell really bad, he will snarl. And if you smell especially awful (ru-roh!), he will play dead.

The company expects to rent these robots for festivals or exhibitions, helping organizers attract and entertain their attendees.

Tokyo’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper has visited their offices to how the robots behave. Check their video here for more information.

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