I found a nice collection of Japanese robots, while browsing throught Konomi’s blogroll. Most of them are cute and already quite famous: Chroino, Wakamaru, and the loveliest of all Murataboy, the robot that can ride a bicycle.

Two of the robots are new to me:

Robovie-R2 is marketed as a research platform for studying communication using robots. It can be used for studies in voice recognition and image processing. And by using it in conversation with human partners, the Robovie-R2 can even be applied to research in psychology.

Takahiro Miyashita, Robovie’s developer and Senior Research Scientist at Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories explains, “Robot design is diverging into two styles – ‘functional’ and ‘interface.’ Robovie could eventually become an interface that is even easier to use than a keyboard or mouse.” (images)

T73S Banryu is a sophisticated watchdog robot for the home.

Banryu moves alone on its four legs, can climb over small obstacles and is fitted with a surveillance camera and infrared, temperature and scent sensors. If any of these detect an intruder, an alarm is set off and the four-legged device scuttles at full speed to the scene of the intrusion. At the same time, the householders are alerted to the emergency situation by mobile phone; if they have a video phone, they can see in real time what is happening in the house. The scent detectors make it an effective fire detector.

See also another article about Western/Eastern relationships with robots.