Okay, don't get too excited, this isn't quite as life-like as you
imagined when you saw the headline. Roland Piquepaille sent us this
news
on Japanese robotics, "A
Japanese designer
has developed a mannequin robot, Palette, which can adapt its
movements
to the shoppers passing in front of it, according to an article
from Agence France-Presse (AFP), "Striking a robotic pose". Using
motion-capture technology, Palette will be able to act as a
supermodel.
And with its specialized sensors and software, it also will be able to
identify the sex and age of shoppers before transmitting them to store
owners for marketing purposes. The price has not been set yet, but
Palette should go on sale in 2005 in two versions: a body without legs
to showcase clothings, and a torso model for jewelry." See
Roland's blog for more
details and a photo of Palette, a robot which intentionally has no
face.
Another photo is available in a recent CNET
news article.
Guardrobo D1 activate anti-theft device! Guardrobo D1 put out fire!
Guardrobo D1 GO! Every couple of days we get a product that just
touches our whimsy spot and makes us smile.
Guardrobo D1 is a
programmable guard robot (Guard+Robot. Get it?) designed to patrol
stores and offices in Japan. This pint-sized fellow will relay back
camera information, listen for intruders, and can even put out fires.
Interestingly enough, they are touting the Guardrobo as a solution for
the problem of an aging population. Because 1 in 5 Japanese are 65 or
older, they don't have enough strapping young security guards.
Therefore, they'll become subservient to demonic robots. "BRING ME
OIL, OLD MAN!"
Supermodel Personals04/19/2004 07:05 AM SuperModelPersonals.blogspot.com [fashionably NSFW] .. § ¨ ¨
.. let me get married soon .. Supermodel Personals .. Tara Morrison ..
it
Supermodel meat sports01/23/2004 02:20 PM Kooky quicktime short.
Atkins sex. If bikini-clad supermodels cavorting with lunchmeat is
your idea of hot online action -- then consider this the jackpot,
baby. The whole mad cow thing adds an extra-sexy whiff of danger.
Carb-free and work-safe (unless you work in a vegan ashram). Link (via
Fleshbot, which provides more
background here)<
/em>
Supermodel attends appeal
Supermodel attends appeal02/18/2004 09:24 AM Naomi Campbell makes a surprise appearance at the appeal in her
privacy case against the Daily Mirror newspaper.
Estonian Supermodel May Run for Parliament (AP)
Estonian Supermodel May Run for Parliament (AP)04/12/2004 12:56 PM AP - Supermodel Carmen Kass will take a temporary stroll off the
catwalk and onto the political stage after the native Estonian was
tapped to run for the European Parliament.
Supermodel may brighten up EU parliament (Reuters)
Supermodel may brighten up EU parliament (Reuters)03/06/2004 02:00 AM Reuters - Estonian supermodel Carmen Kass wants to swap the catwalk
for the corridors of power and will run for a seat in the
European Parliament in June for the right-wing Res publica party of
Prime Minister Juhan Parts.
Czech Supermodel Injured in Tidal Wave (AP)
Czech Supermodel Injured in Tidal Wave (AP)12/28/2004 11:25 AM AP - Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova, who appeared on the cover of 2003
Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, was injured and her photographer
boyfriend is missing after the pair were caught up in the Asian
tsunami disaster, a spokeswoman for the boyfriend said Tuesday.
Supermodel Elle's lingerie ads spark protest (Reuters)09/10/2004 09:28 AM Reuters - A TV advert that features a lingerie-clad woman caressing a
carving knife and then
scrubbing blood from the floor is causing controversy, just days after
it hit the airwaves.
Japanese Hostages Safe in Iraq - Japanese Media (Reuters)
Japanese Hostages Safe in Iraq - Japanese Media (Reuters)04/11/2004 12:20 AM Reuters - Three Japanese civilians kidnapped in
Iraq were safe near Falluja on Sunday, Japanese TV said.
Government officials could not confirm the report.
A Running Robot Or A Rolling Robot?12/18/2003 12:58 PM It took years for researchers to figure out how to make a robot be
able to stand and walk on two legs. In fact, it's so complicated,
that some researchers are giving up on that idea and using
Segway balancing technology on their robots instead of legs.
However, the folks at Sony seem to have taken the concept of the
upright walking robot one step further: they've figured out how to make a
robot run. That's right, it actually leaves the ground at
points while jogging along. It apparently needs a bit of a walking
start to get up to speed, and even at running speed, it's more of a
slow jog - where it's feet barely leave the ground. Still, it's a
start, and with some more work, they believe they can really make the
robot run.
No sex please -- we're Japanese
No sex please -- we're Japanese06/04/2004 10:46 AM USA Today story on statistics published in a popular Japanese news
magazine that point to an acute shagging deficiency throughout the
country.
Only in Japan would a popular weekly newsmagazine deem it necessary to
exhort the nation's youth to abstain from sexual abstinence: "Young
people, don't hate sex," AERA magazine pleaded last month in a report
detailing a precarious drop in sales of condoms and in business at
Japan's rent-by-the-hour "love hotels."
More and more Japanese men and women are finding relationships too
messy, tiring and potentially humiliating to bother with anymore.
"They don't want a complicated life," says Sakai, who has written a
controversial bestseller, Cry of the Losing Dogs, on the plight of
unmarried Japanese thirtysomething women like herself.(...)
AERA reports that condom shipments are down 40% since 1993 (probably
in part because Japan finally legalized birth-control pills in 1999)
and love-hotel check-ins are off at least 20% over the past five
years. What's more, an increasing number of those visiting love hotels
aren't there for romance, AERA says; they've found that love hotels
offer the cheapest access to karaoke machines and video
games.
You, Robot12/22/2004 01:24 AM It's been a while since we mentioned Hans Moravec but a new Scientific
American article turns out to be just what we needed. The article
gives an update on his company, Seegrid Corporation, and the robot
vision system they've been developing. Along the way he talks about
the
growth of raw computing
power from the bacterium-level ENIAC to the modern guppy-level
desktop PC.
<
img src="http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/images/khr01.jpg"
alt="khr01.jpg image" width="141" height="250" class="borderyes"
border="0" align="right" vspace="5" hspace="15"/>I don't know
everything about this $1,450 'KHR-1' kit from Korean firm Wow Robot,
but just from watching the video I can put together that this little
humanoid bot can kick (soccer-style), shuffle step, pick itself up off
the floor, and assume any number of badass fighting poses. All 17
different joints are powered by a single motor, and there is even
software to pre-script the movements on your computer and play them
back again and again. Probably a little out of most casual robotics
fans' price range, but for those that really like contributing to our
species' ultimate destruction, you know, on the side, the Wow
Robot is a lot of cybernetic doom for not a lot of cash. (Thanks,
Soonkack!) <
b>Read - Product Page (Korean) [WowRobot]
I not Robot07/21/2004 02:59 PM Scott Rosenberg cites the NY Time's nailing of what's so wonderful
about the original I, Robot stories, and then adds his own
contemplations. Unlike Scott, though, I'm going to see the movie. I
think of it as meeting someone named Abe Lincoln. Just a
coincidence....
"I, Robot"
"I, Robot"07/16/2004 08:21 AM Will Smith has one hot bod, but is that enough to overcome this
futuristic flick's edifice complex?
I, Robot07/17/2004 07:52 AM IRrobotMovie.com [Release Date 2004-07-16] .. that upcoming Will Smith
movie .. new film version of I, Robot .. back to fiction .. website ..
movie .. Robot
Robot Sex05/06/2004 05:17 PM Simson Garfinkel has written a new Technology
Review article on the subject of Robot Sex - not sex as in robot
procreation but as in robot gender. Is your robot a male or female? It
turns out Honda thinks Asimo
is a male and consistently refers to it as "he". The Roomba, on the
other hand,
is female according to the author. The article also mentions the
Neiman Marcus his & her
robots which included a male and female robot. There's a related
Slashdot discussion.
What is Technorati (in Japanese)
What is Technorati (in Japanese)12/22/2004 01:12 AM Masahiko Satoh posts an extensive explanation of Technorati in
Japanese for folks in Japan trying to understand better what the
service does, and how it works. Thanks Masahiko!...
Japanese Ice Cream07/07/2004 05:48 PM OK, here's one of the reasons I love Japan: The way they have
no inhibitions about what might go together with something else. How
about Spinach Ice Cream? Or Seaweed Ice Cream? Or how about the Raw
Horse Meat Ice Cream ("with chunks!")?
(Via
Boing Boing. Of course, it's incredibly lame to refer to Boing
Boing, because everybody reads it already, but... well. I just find
this one interesting. :-)
Japanese Spy Satellites No Go12/02/2003 01:16 AM A rocket carrying two spy satellites meant to keep an eye on North
Korea malfunctions following liftoff, failing to gain sufficient
height and speed to reach orbit. Japan's space agency, JAXA, destroys
the rocket.
Folksonomies in Japanese
Folksonomies in Japanese02/01/2005 08:41 PM OK, I need some help from people who speak Japanese.
This post is about folksonomies (tagging), and how it might be really
hard in Japanese. This is mostly speculation at this point, please
comment or email me if you speak Japanese.
On the Sigia-L list, Fiona Bradley writes: "I don't know Cantonese,
...
Read Les
Earnest's hillarious
story about how his secret decoder ring got FBI on his tail
when he was 12 years
old. That was in 1943 but it shows what can happen when
paranoia grips a nation.
It could be now if you are related in anyway to the Middle East.
[via Gaget
opia via Espen
Adersen].
Grok Description matches for Japanese Robot Supermodel GrokA matches for Japanese Robot Supermodel
Japanese Robot Supermodel
The following phrases have been identified by the grok system as matching this entry:
Guardrobo D1 is a
programmable guard robot (Guard+Robot. Get it?) designed to patrol
stores and offices in Japan. This pint-sized fellow will relay back
camera information, listen for intruders, and can even put out fires.
Interestingly enough, they are touting the Guardrobo as a solution for
the problem of an aging population. Because 1 in 5 Japanese are 65 or
older, they don't have enough strapping young security guards.
Therefore, they'll become subservient to demonic robots. "BRING ME
OIL, OLD MAN!"
Kooky quicktime short.
Atkins sex. If bikini-clad supermodels cavorting with lunchmeat is
your idea of hot online action -- then consider this the jackpot,
baby. The whole mad cow thing adds an extra-sexy whiff of danger.
Carb-free and work-safe (unless you work in a vegan ashram). 
This is a stunning gallery of fan-car art inspired by Japanese
pop-star Ayumi Hamasaki.
