RoboTokyo

The washing-up is piling up in the kitchen, you are too tired to get up and make dinner or even just grab a beer - do not fear! Those crazy Robots from Japan are here. They will take care of your cooking needs, supply you with drinks and even wake you up for work…Here are five robots every lazy person wishes they could command!

1. Motoman Robot: Fancy breakfast in bed? Robots could soon be taking over kitchens up and down the country if the impressive Motoman is anything to go by. The industrial robot expertly flipped and cooked a Japanese pancake on a hotplate during a demonstration at an exhibition in Osaka. Built by engineers from the Japanese giant Yaskawa Electric, the SDA10 has ‘human-like’ flexibility of movement. Both its arms can work together or independently and the robot can operate in confined spaces. The Motoman robot can also be used for more traditional tasks such as assembling and packaging items as heavy as 20kg as well as complex handling that could once only be done by people.

2. Kitchen Robot: Professors at Tokyo University have developed a robot that can help out around the house. Its movements are jerky and not very fast, but this robot can pour a cup of tea and even wash the cup afterwards. Because really, if you’re gonna invest four years of your life into a robot, your primary goal should be getting it to do the least exciting things possible. Why not build a robot that sits in a chair and reads a book?

   


3. Twendy-One Robot: Have trouble getting out of bed in the morning? Japanese scientists have developed a robot who can help you do just that - AND bring breakfast to your table. The 17-stone robot called Twendy-One was developed at Waseda University in Tokyo. Built with arms and hands the size ‘of an average adult female’, Twendy has enough strength to support humans as they sit up and stand, and can pick up and manipulate delicate objects such as a drinking straw.

4. El E Robot: The nuances and imprecise nature of human language pose big challenges for developers looking to advance voice control technology of helper robots, but researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found an effective way to circumvent verbal communication by instructing a robot to fetch items under direction of a laser pointer.

5. ApriAttenda Robot: Japanese society is already hedging its bets in the face of a rapidly declining population with the promise of robot workers. The latest addition to Japan’s emerging service class is the updated version of the ApriAttenda, created by Toshiba. At just one meter tall, the robot can open doors, handle trays and drinks and comes equipped with cameras in its three-fingered hands. The robot is expected to join the ranks of day care and nursing robots being designed to meet the needs of the graying populace. Shown below is the ApriAttenda being trained by one of the humans it will soon replace.

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