October 12, 2009 by Rok | Events, Science & Technology | Add your comment »
Latest tech from CEATEC 2009
Last week, Japan hosted CEATEC 2009, Asia’s largest exhibition of latest achievements in IT and electronics. Below is a short report from Fuji News Network.
- Murata Manufacturing Co. exhibited a new version of a unicycle-riding robot Murata Seiko that features improved balance and turning and moves 3 times faster than its predecessor. Seiko-chan also showed off its new ability of balancing on a rather thin 2 cm wide pole using sensors to move forward.
- Yamaha demonstrated Mimu-chan, a singing humanoid robot of type HRP-4C, developed by the AIST institute. The robot is equipped with Yamaha Vocaloid software that simulates singing using digital human voice. Mimu-chan is 158 cm tall and weighs 43 kg. You be the judge of her singing talent!
- Nissan upgraded its Eporo robot (type BR23C) that is able to move around while avoiding obstacles. Eporo can move in a group like a school of fish without bumping into each other while maintaining a certain distance from one another. The robot stands a little over 45 cm, weighs 13 kg and can move at a maximum speed of 1.4 km/h. Eporo uses two laser range finders within a 288-degree field of view to avoid obstacles on its way. Nissan is looking to incorporate this technology into future cars to help prevent traffic accidents.
- Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo showed off the new Throw-Mail application for Android-based mobile phones. Instead of pushing the Send button, users can literally throw email messages to their friends. Using GPS, the camera’s viewfinder shows where your friend is located and how far they are. When you’re ready, you can swing your arms in their direction to “throw” the message to their handset. Throw Mail only lets you send a message this way to people on your list of contacts. Worried that your phone will accidentally fly off into the head of some unlucky passer-by? They recommend you attach it to your hand using a wrist strap. Throw-Mail is still under development and it remains to be seen whether or not it will be available as a commercial product.
CEATEC 2009 was taking place at Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba City near Tokyo.
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