Robots Dance, Play at World Robot Expo in Japan
From: Associated Press - 06/09/2005
By: Yuri Kageyama

A wide variety of prototype robots on display at the World Expo in Japan
illustrate their potential as tools for entertainment, care-giving,
lifesaving, and information processing, although researchers say safe and
reliable public use is several years away. The most human-like robot at the
exhibition is the Repliee Q1expo: The machine, which is covered by a
skin-like material, simulates breathing and can pretend to look as if it is
reacting to approaching people. Developers believe Repliee could be a
progenitor of robots that sell tickets and help elderly people navigate
streets, for example. Many of the robots are designed as communications aids,
an example being a videophone-like device that displays a 3D image of the
caller on its face and mimics the caller's movements with its mechanical
arms. Another robot can hit baseball pitches of up to 100 mph thanks to a
vision system that processes 1,000 images per second, and Hiroshima
University professor Idaku Ishii thinks the robot not only has enormous
potential as a training tool for baseball players, but as a super-fast device
for processing data. The slithering Kinshachi Robot swims like a fish, and
Ryomei Engineering says it is designed to monitor bridge safety and collect
information for fishing while in the ocean. Among the entertainment-oriented
robots at the expo are a pair of humanoids programmed to perform a slapstick
comedy act, and a teddy bear that moves its arms and nods its head in time to
the sound of a human voice, which developers claim can help children
communicate with adults. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/J1GRCDTeTPk9pW/Robots-Dance-Play-at-World-Robot-Expo-in-Japan.xhtml

Links:

Robots Dance, Play at World Robot Expo
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/09/AR2005060900516_2.html

Robots dance and play at Japan exhibition
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8157849/page/2

Robots at Expo display some talents, but still need work
http://www.canada.com/technology/story.html?id=be35b6ea-730b-4f2f-a264-4f7d78493c8f

World Expo Robots Are Designed for Everyday Life -- But Not Ready for Living Rooms 
http://www.techreview.com/articles/05/06/ap/ap_2060905.asp?p=0

Robots at Expo display some talents, some bugs
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/special_packages/11855062.htm
