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A project team sponsored by the Japanese government has joined electronic component maker Murata Manufacturing in developing what the company claims to be the world's first Bluetooth-enabled humanoid robot.

The technology, unveiled last week at CEATEC Japan 2001, outside Tokyo, could be used in wirelessly controlled rescue robots working in disaster areas.

The 13.6-inch tall "Morph" is primarily a product of the government-sponsored Kitatno Symbiotic Systems Project, one of Japan's leading humanoid robot developers. Morph is the team's basic robot platform for human-movement reproduction.

Murata not only helped KSSP expand the types of movements Morph can make, but also incorporated Bluetooth technology into the basic robot platform and provided a sensor that prevents the robot from leaning and falling to the ground.

Currently, one of the most famous humanoid robots is Honda Motor's Asimo, which walks, slowly, like a real human being and appears in Honda commercials. However, Morph's movements are not limited to walking functions but, using 26 joints in its body, also is capable of fast movements including bowing, waving hands, and making karate poses.

Morph is the first humanoid robot that uses Bluetooth for wireless communication, according to Murata.

There are four advantages to using Bluetooth technology to operate a robot, according to Yuhki Yamgata, a Murata engineer: its low power consumption is suitable for mobile operations; the frequency-hopping technology of Bluetooth radio waves prevents them from getting mixed up with other radio waves; two-way communication between a robot and its operator is possible; an operator can simultaneously communicate with multiple robots.

As a way to help accurately reproduce human movements by robots, the project team began working to develop features that would allow robots to play soccer. In June 2002, in the western Japanese region of Fukuoka prefecture, there will be a robot soccer championship, and Morph robots will comprise one of the participating teams.

A special version of Sony's robot dog Aibo, which will be customized as a soccer-playing robot, is also expected to participate, according to Yukiko Matsuoka, an engineer from KSSP. One of the targets for humanoid robot developers is for a robot team to compete in the real World Cup soccer games with human beings by the year 2050, she says.

Once Murata's sensor and Bluetooth technologies were added to Morph--as a way to enable it to play soccer--the project team also started to see its potential as a rescue robot, Matsuoka says. In addition to the current movements it is capable of, the robot team plans to develop Morph's audio and video features, for communications.

The project team started the development of Morph in the second quarter this year and unveiled the second generation of the robot in the third quarter.

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