Robots, Akihabara, and a baby…

Last week, wandering around Tokyo, I decided to check out what sort of consumer robots were available. I ended up initially finding the Kondo Robo-Spot in Akihabara, where Kondo, a manufacturer of radio controllers and kit robots, has a demonstration facility. The video below shows the robot kicking a ball into a goal, doing pushups and cartwheels, bowing, and waving his arms in celebration – a pretty impressive display. It also shows the reaction of my five-month old daughter Leda to the robot.

The Kondo robots are available only in kit form, seIling for a little less than $1,000, and taking five or so hours to assemble. It turns out that there is a large market of robot “otaku” in Japan, who prefer to assemble robots than buy them complete, with a magazine dedicated to kit robots. The Kondo robot and its brethren are humanoid, and are able to walk and perform basic functions by virtue of compressed air-powered “muscles”, directed by people through wireless controllers. While the controllers can be programmed to make the robots perform complex movements, such as cartwheels, the robots are not autonomous, so are more mechanical wonders than self-directing robots.

There is no question that Japan’s future (and past) is deeply enmeshed with robots. It is the only country where there is serious experimentation with what robots can do. I have written before about cuddly seal robots for therapy, lifelike doppelganger robots, household robots, and other explorations of the boundaries of robotics in Japan. The human race is on the verge of creating robots that become part of our everyday lives, yet we are still far from discovering precisely what roles robots will play in our future. I think it will be fun having robots around to help us.