Tmsuk Sanyo's "T7-4 Roborior" Robotics / Sanyo Posted by zmcnulty on Dec 09, 2004 - 07:34 PM |
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Here's a new "home-watching" robot that reminds me of one of those things from that movie eXistenZ. Damn was that movie awful. Tmsuk Sanyo Corporation and Tmsuk Corporation announced the new-style "T7-4 Roborior" house-watching robot on the 8th. Its price is estimated around 280,000 yen. This product is actually the successor to the Banryu [1] house-watching robot developed by the two companies. It was developed to with specific aims in mind, namely to have a smaller size for households, be lower cost, and have added value while actually at home. Although the Banryu was a 4 legged robot, Tmsuk has said that because the new robot omits the walking mechanism and instead moves by using three wheels, the cost was able to be significantly decreased. The result is a body size of 274 x 259 x 270mm (W x D x H), and a weight of 3.25kg; this weight represents less than 10% when compared to the Banryu's 36kg. Also, because the robot is intended to be placed inside of homes, it features a design with a certain softness, wrought of the fusion of robot and interior. Its shape is reminiscent of a jellyfish's shape. Mr. Paul White, Chief Designer at England's "Me Company" design group, also lended a hand in the robot's design. The name of the robot has also been coined by combining "robot" and "interior." Being a home-watching robot, the Roborior is the successor to the Banryu. In the home-watching mode, it will detect intruders with an integrated sensor, automatically call a designated phone number, and sound a warning. The remote control mode also allows operation of the Roborior from outside the home, using a FOMA phone. The controls are much like a remote controlled car, where "2" causes the robot to go forward, "5" reverse," "1" rotating left, and "3" rotating right. Also controllable from the cellular phone are the tilt of the robot's integrated camera, as well as the sounding of a warning alarm. Movement is done by two front wheel and one back wheel (caster), and the front left and right wheels can be operated using signals from a cell phone. The robot is quite slow, with a low-speed mode of 140mm/sec (0.504 km/h), and a high speed mode of 190mm/sec (0.684 km/h). On the interior of the robot is a 3 color LED, which will light up different colors depending on the selected mode (home-watching, remote control, and idle). The LED can also be used as a floor light. The robot also contains a camera and FOMA termit, meaning that the Roborior can conduct TV phone calls on its own. Furthermore, it features a composite video output, and can output video realtime to a TV. Thus, another intended of the robot is as a remote surveillance monitor.  [2] [3] [4]Inspired by: http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2004/1208/roborior.htm [5] Press Release: http://www.tmsuk.co.jp/media/topic.php [6] Press Release (PDF): http://www.roborior.com/press/pdf/02.pdf [7] |
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This article is from TechJapan http://www.techjapan.com/ The URL for this story is: http://www.techjapan.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=736 Links in this article [1] http://www.techjapan.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=214 [2] http://www.techjapan.com/images/1204/120804/roborior01_l.jpg [3] http://www.techjapan.com/images/1204/120804/roborior02_l.jpg [4] http://www.techjapan.com/images/1204/120804/roborior03_l.jpg [5] http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2004/1208/roborior.htm [6] http://www.tmsuk.co.jp/media/topic.php [7] http://www.roborior.com/press/pdf/02.pdf |
