THE BRIDGE

tag Schaft

Android inventor Andy Rubin showcases his godfathered biped robot in Tokyo

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
SHARE:

See the original story in Japanese. On Friday afternoon, Andy Rubin made a keynote speech at the New Economy Summit 2016 in Tokyo. Rubin developed the Android smartphone platform and sold it to Google, then joined Google as vice president of engineering before recently launched his own company called Playground Global. His new company will incubate and support hardware startups. According to Rubin, Playground Global is a cross between a typical venture capital firm in Silicon Valley and an IDEO-like design studio, employing about 50 in-house engineers focusing on industrial design, mechanical design, electrical engineering and other key areas. Despite only 11 months having passed since launch, the company has successfully fundraised $300 million for the purpose of investing in hardware startups last year. Looking back at the history of IT industry, we see a new computing platform emerging every 10 to 15 years. From Rubin’s perspective, he believes artificial intelligence (AI) will come next after the mobile platform. Given the paradigm shift driven by artificial intelligence, there will be a major change in how people interact with machines. By placing AI in the cloud as well as gathering information via sensors located sporadically, AI-powered engines will be taught and…

nes2016-andy-rubin-2

See the original story in Japanese.

On Friday afternoon, Andy Rubin made a keynote speech at the New Economy Summit 2016 in Tokyo. Rubin developed the Android smartphone platform and sold it to Google, then joined Google as vice president of engineering before recently launched his own company called Playground Global. His new company will incubate and support hardware startups.

According to Rubin, Playground Global is a cross between a typical venture capital firm in Silicon Valley and an IDEO-like design studio, employing about 50 in-house engineers focusing on industrial design, mechanical design, electrical engineering and other key areas. Despite only 11 months having passed since launch, the company has successfully fundraised $300 million for the purpose of investing in hardware startups last year.

nes2016-andy-rubin-1

Looking back at the history of IT industry, we see a new computing platform emerging every 10 to 15 years. From Rubin’s perspective, he believes artificial intelligence (AI) will come next after the mobile platform. Given the paradigm shift driven by artificial intelligence, there will be a major change in how people interact with machines. By placing AI in the cloud as well as gathering information via sensors located sporadically, AI-powered engines will be taught and trained.

nes2016-andy-rubin-nakanishi-robot-1

A robot is definitely a complex aggregate of these sensors. To highlight this, Rubin invited Yuto Nakanishi onstage to ask him to unveil his biped robot under development. Nakanishi was CEO of Japanese robotics company Schaft, which was acquired by Google when Rubin was still with the tech giant. Nakanishi is currently continuing his R&D work at X (formerly Google X), the new tech development company under Google. Since Rubin has quit Google, he has no direct business relationship with Nakanishi for now but it seems Nakanishi agreed to make his new robot public upon request from the man who gave the go-ahead to investdin Nakanishi’s business years ago.

See also:

Having no name yet, this robot is slightly shorter than the average human. Even on bumpy roads, it can walk while maintaining stability. Since it can walk up and down even on tiny steps of stairs, the use case includes autonomous stair-sweeping by attachment of vacuuming devices on its foot. However, applications for this robot are yet specifically to be determined by Google.

nes2016-andy-rubin-nakanishi-robot-2

Rubin concluded the session with a prediction that computer engineers will need the skills of ‘training’ neural networks as well as programming. Hence, computer engineering will be replaced by the new concept of everyone teaching new things to robots or AI systems because of changes in how interactions with machines take place in coming years.

Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Related news

  1. Japanese ‘robotics legend’ joins telexistence startup Gitai as COO to create space robots
  2. How watcher robot Bocco secured $20,000 on Kickstarter within three weeks
  3. 8 hardware startups give pitches at first Hardware Cup in Osaka for Pittsburgh finals

Japanese robotics entrepreneur forms $20M fund for bio and energy startups

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
SHARE:

Our readers may recall that Japanese robotics company Schaft was recently acquired by Google and won the DARPA robotics challenge trials. Bloomberg reported yesterday that the company’s co-founder Takashi Kato will form a new 2 billion yen fund (approximately $19 million) for Japanese startups focused on biotechnology and energy efficiency segments. It will be called 246 Capital. In the process of negotiating with Google during the acquisition process, he tried to get funds from 10 investment firms and the state-run fund Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ). But his efforts didn’t work out. In response to this disappointing experience, he plans to launch a scheme to help Japanese engineers and scientists get funding to complementary to their research and development expenses. Kato hopes to invest in companies developing cancer treatment devices and analytics technology for genetics since his own mother died from skin cancer. Efforts from successful entrepreneurs that help others in the ecosystem is really a great thing to see in Japan. Our readers may recall that we recently featured a number of up-and-coming robotics startups from Japan, many of whose founders grew out from the creative digital company TeamLab. Via Bloomberg

Takashi Kato (picture from his website)
Takashi Kato (picture from his website)

Our readers may recall that Japanese robotics company Schaft was recently acquired by Google and won the DARPA robotics challenge trials. Bloomberg reported yesterday that the company’s co-founder Takashi Kato will form a new 2 billion yen fund (approximately $19 million) for Japanese startups focused on biotechnology and energy efficiency segments. It will be called 246 Capital.

In the process of negotiating with Google during the acquisition process, he tried to get funds from 10 investment firms and the state-run fund Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ). But his efforts didn’t work out. In response to this disappointing experience, he plans to launch a scheme to help Japanese engineers and scientists get funding to complementary to their research and development expenses. Kato hopes to invest in companies developing cancer treatment devices and analytics technology for genetics since his own mother died from skin cancer.

Efforts from successful entrepreneurs that help others in the ecosystem is really a great thing to see in Japan. Our readers may recall that we recently featured a number of up-and-coming robotics startups from Japan, many of whose founders grew out from the creative digital company TeamLab.

Via Bloomberg

Related news

  1. Japanese biotech firm Euglena forms $17M fund, focused on investment in R&D startups
  2. Incubate Fund forms new $21.4M fund, plans to invest in 100 startups in 3 years
  3. Rebright Partners forms $20M fund, focused on investing in mobile startups in India

Google’s newly acquired robotics company wins DARPA Challenge Trials

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
SHARE:

Recently Google acquired Schaft, a Japanese robotics company that grew out of the University of Tokyo. The company won the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials this weekend in Miami, an event aimed at encouraging engineers across the world to develop disaster relief robots, in response to the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. During the competition, robots were tested to measure their motor capabilities in eight different tasks like climbing up-and-down a ladder, removing obstacles and debris, and driving a car. 16 teams competed to advance to the 2014 Finals in an effort to win the $2 million grand prize. The Schaft team took top place, beating out tough competitors like IHMC, Carnegie Mellon University, and MIT. The company was launched by humanoid scientists Yuto Nakahishi and Junichi Urata back in 2012. Prior to its acquisition by Google, it was backed by Tokyo-based startup incubator TomyK [1] and Tsuneishi Partners, the investment arm of a leading shipbuilding company in Japan. TomyK is focused on incubating hardware startups, and was launched by Tomihisa Kamada, the inventor of the Japanese feature phone web browser ‘i-mode‘. ↩

suzuki-nakanishi
From the Left: Schaft COO Narito Suzuki, CEO Yuto Nakanishi, and the Schaft robot (from DARPA video)

Recently Google acquired Schaft, a Japanese robotics company that grew out of the University of Tokyo. The company won the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials this weekend in Miami, an event aimed at encouraging engineers across the world to develop disaster relief robots, in response to the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

During the competition, robots were tested to measure their motor capabilities in eight different tasks like climbing up-and-down a ladder, removing obstacles and debris, and driving a car. 16 teams competed to advance to the 2014 Finals in an effort to win the $2 million grand prize. The Schaft team took top place, beating out tough competitors like IHMC, Carnegie Mellon University, and MIT.

The company was launched by humanoid scientists Yuto Nakahishi and Junichi Urata back in 2012. Prior to its acquisition by Google, it was backed by Tokyo-based startup incubator TomyK [1] and Tsuneishi Partners, the investment arm of a leading shipbuilding company in Japan.

  1. TomyK is focused on incubating hardware startups, and was launched by Tomihisa Kamada, the inventor of the Japanese feature phone web browser ‘i-mode‘. ↩

Related news

  1. Japanese robotics entrepreneur forms $20M fund for bio and energy startups
  2. 9 Japanese robotics startups to watch in 2014
  3. Japan’s Metaps ties up with Yukai Engineering to help robotics companies make money

Recent Articles

Trends