GetRobo

tmsuk's deal with Microsoft

It's been a few weeks since Microsoft Japan announced that it will be teaming with tmsuk, the robotics startup that made Kiyomori. The press release said that the two companies will cooperate "to standardize software components" using the Microsoft Robotics Studio. So what does this mean? And what kind of impact will it have in Japan?

First of all, I got to talk with Yoichi Takamoto, founder and CEO of tmsuk in Los Angeles during WIRED NextFest. His explanation was this.

"We currently use Linux on our robots. Now that we have an alliance with Microsoft, we will try to make our robots work with Windows. But we don't know if that will work. At this point, what is decided upon is that Microsoft will let us use all their tools for free. In regards to how we will give them feedback, we have yet to decide on the details. We need to figure out whether tmsuk will receive royalties or patent fees or some other kind of technology transfer fees and in what scheme. We can't have just Microsoft profit from this relationship. The announcement came out first  but actually there are still lots to discuss about between the two companies before we move forward."

What do the people in the Japanese robotics industry think?

Said one CEO of a Japanese company that is in the robotics business. "I think this is a publicity stunt. Microsoft wanted to announce some kind of deal to show people that it is gaining support for its Robotics Studio." Since then Microsoft has announced a deal with ZMP, another robotics startup in Japan.

The Japanese government has been a bit concerned about Microsoft's moves in the robotics field, and one person close to the government said that "people are a bit relieved that the alliance was with tmsuk (and not a bigger company)."

Probably the best thing Microsoft has gained from this alliance is "tmsuk's connection with the Japanese universities" according to a couple of other people in the industry. tmsuk is well-known for having a good relationship with many of the major robotics labs throughout the country.   

There is an article on ROBOT CENTRAL too about this alliance. 

tmsuk's Kiyomori at WIRED NextFest 2007

A couple of videos of Kiyomori, the samurai robot made by tmsuk. It made an appearance at the WIRED NextFest 2007 in Los Angeles. It was the first time for any of tmsuk's robots to land in the U.S.  Kiyomori does walk like a real (short) samurai - because the armor is very heavy, humans would kind of walk that way too.

I wrote an article for ROBOT WATCH about NextFest in case you read Japanese.

Sony's new music player Rolly

Sony announced it's new music player Rolly. It will hit the market in Japan on Sept. 29. The concept is similar to  miuro, but Rolly is smaller. And whereas miuro is autonomous and more "robotic" - it can follow you around from room to room and prevent itself from falling off from tables etc. - what Rolly basically does is show some cool movements that match the music.

According to an article on ITpro, Rolly was developed by some of the people that used to work on the AIBO at Sony. Although when they started talking about developing a new music player utilizing some AIBO technologies, they didn't know that AIBO was going to be discontinued. They started working on it seriously about a year and a half ago teaming up with the audio group.

The goal was to create a music player that would surprise people because of the sound quality coming out from something that is so small. The team put a lot of effort in figuring out the best balance between sound and motion - a bigger speaker meant better sound but less space for motors which were also important for interesting movements. AIBO's technology was utilized in creating quick but smooth and quiet movements so that they don't interfere with the music. The developers think that although Rolly is not a pet like AIBO, people will feel empathy for the player due to its movements.

Sony doesn't plan on doing big advertising on TV for this new product. The company is planning on using its blog and other word of mouth marketing strategies to sell Rolly.

According to Sony's press release, Rolly weighs 300g, battery life is about 4 hours with sound and motion, 3.5 hours when using Bluetooth, comes with 1GB flash memory. Price is expected to be around 40,000 yen ($350).

More photos and videos on ROBOT WATCH. You can see how you can control the volume and select songs by turning the wheels.

   

 

Keepon wins the Robots at Play Prize 2007

Keepon the yellow snowman robot has won the Robots at Play Prize 2007 according to Hideki Kozima who developed the interactive robot. The Robots at Play Festival was held in Odense, Denmark on Aug. 23-25 and a prize of 75,000 DKK (about $14,000) was awarded to Kozima and his team.

Keepon first became famous outside of Japan after Marek Michalowski - a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University - programmed it to be able to dance to music and posted this video on YouTube. Almost 6 months later, it is suddenly gaining popularity in Japan too, due to several media reports.

Keepon is not only cute but is being used in serious studies regarding human-robot interaction. Kozima and his team are using Keepon to find out how children interact with robots and if robots can make a difference when playing with children with autism.    

Congratulations Keepon!

Exoskeleton market to grow to 3 billion yen in 2010

Market research firm Fuji-Keizai predicts that the Japanese market for exoskeletons - which are called  "robot suits" or "powered suits" in Japan - will grow from zero in 2006 to 3 billion yen (about $ 25 million) in 2010, according to its most recent report on the robotics market.

This is based on the fact that companies that are developing the exoskeletons - namely CYBERDYNE and Active Link - are preparing to start manufacturing their products soon.

CYBERDYNE was founded by Prof. Yoshiyuki Sankai of the University of Tsukuba. The company is building a plant in Tsukuba that will have the capacity to manufacture 500 robot suits per year. The construction of the factory will start in late November and is scheduled to be complete by next May.

Active Link is a spin-off of Panasonic, which is reportedly planning to start selling its exoskeletons in 2008.

The exoskeletons will account for almost half of the total market for household and service robots in Japan in 2010, according to Fuji-Keizai's forecast.