Wow this is crazy. If only it went at a speed faster than the walking pace of a 100 year old man. I wonder if you could just sit on it and ride it…
JAPAN BUILDS KINECT-POWERED ROBOTIC GUIDE DOG
Japanese robot maker NSK has unleashed the latest prototype of its robotic seeing-eye dog. This helpful hound uses Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Kinect peripheral to sense the world around it.
Full Story: PSFK
Ouch.
via TokyoMango:
This team of Japanese researchers proudly accepted the Ig Nobel Prize for Improbable Research yesterday, for its invention of a wasabi-scented smoke alarm that could alert deaf people who can’t hear audible warnings of fire emergencies. The Wasabi Smoke Alarm emits a dense wasabi oil mist when triggered.
Pneuborn 7 and 13 are two robo-babies built by robotics researchers at Osaka University’s Hosada Laboratory. Named after the air-powered actuators that simulate the muscles on their skeletal structures, the Pneuborns are designed to explore motor development in babies. Little Pneuborn 7 simulates the crawling of a 7 month old baby, and would almost be cute save for its lidless staring eyeballs. Pneuborn 13 simulates the walking ability of a 13 month old baby, and has the misfortune of having no eyes at all. For more cutting edge but vaguely unsettling Japanese research robots, see the Elfoid phone and Geminoid|DK lifelike humanoid replica.
WHY?!?!?!?!
So this guy, Akinori Ito, has discovered how to convert plastic back into oil. His frustration with all of the world’s garbage inspired him to create this crazy idea.
From CubeMe.com:
Akinori Ito, from the Japanese company Blest has developed a machine capable to transform Plastic back into oil to be later used to create gasoline, Diesel and Kerosene. While the process is not so difficult to understand the result is pretty impressive, for every 1kg of plastic, 1 liter of oil can be harvested. Aside from the obvious advantage of this process in targeting issues of plastic recycling, the machine also does not generate any carbon dioxide when put into application.
Because Japan’s birth rate is way down and the population is aging so rapidly…freaky inventions like Nurse Riba have come into existence. I hope we don’t have to hug one of these things while we’re in Nagoya. I’m kind of scared as to how Americans would use this in their own home (i.e. never get up for anything). But, then again, we would probably break Riba’s plastic arms if he/she/it tried to pick us up.
