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"Pay attention to what robotics engineers at universities are doing," said Kazuo Hirai, an executive managing director of Honda Motor and a developer of its humanoid Asimo robot. "What they are doing now is sowing the seeds for the future robot market."

Those seeds are on display this week at the Robodex 2002 exhibition, which opened on Thursday and continues until Sunday in Yokohama, Japan. Nine universities, one college, and one individual university student are taking part in the show, giving a glimpse into what the robotics industry may offer in years to come.

Research that is underway at many Japanese universities extends far beyond developing a humanoid robot that can walk upright on two legs like a human.

Emotions on Display

At a laboratory at Tokyo University of Science, for example, engineers are developing a facial robot, called Saya, which is able to display human emotional expressions.

Designed to resemble a human head complete with eyes, mouth and a wig, Saya is covered with silicon rubber skin. Using artificial muscles, Saya can show universally recognizable facial expressions such as joy, anger, and astonishment. The artificial muscles are operated by compressed air and are based on a mechanism similar to that used by humans to display facial expressions, according to a statement from Hiroshi Kobayashi, an assistant professor of the laboratory.

Down the road, engineers hope to give Saya voice recognition and video monitoring functions, according to a student working on the project who declined to give his name. These features would allow Saya to be used as a communication tool, allowing an elderly father to converse with a robot that resembles their son, for example. At the same time, the son would be able to see his father via the installed monitoring video.

Making Its Own Decisions

In addition to making interaction with robots more human, other researchers are looking at adding artificial intelligence to their creations.

Engineers at Professor Shigeki Sugano's laboratory at Waseda University are trying to give their Wamoeba robot a sense of values and the ability to determine for itself how to react towards given situations, said Yuki Suga, a student at Waseda University.

For example, when the robot handles an object that a human would find soft or delicate, engineers want it to be able to decide for itself whether that object is soft or not, Suga said.

Wamoeba's development is still at the algorithmic stage and Wamoeba is so far able to react to external factors, such as being touched by someone, by displaying one of three different colors based on pre-programmed responses, he said.

For Safety's Sake

At one of Chiba University's laboratory, researchers led by Professor Kenzo Nonami are developing a six-legged robot which works as a land-mine detector. The Comet-II measures 47 inches by 71 inches and weighs 265 pounds. The robot's six legs support its main body while its sensor-equipped right arm searches for mines and the left arm marks each spot where a land mine is detected with color ink.

At this point in its development, Comet-II can search for and detect land mines and work out their position using GPS. This information is then fed to a computer located at a safe distance, said Kou Keikyu, a student at the laboratory. The sensor can detect land mines buried to a depth of 28 inches, he said.

However, there are two problems that need to be solved before Comet-II can be deployed to detect mines, he said. The robot is not water-resistant and it needs to be connected to a power source via a cable. To solve the power problem, a gasoline-powered engine, which will allow the robot to be operated for up to eight hours, will be included with the next generation Comet, he said.

Working Alone

Advances in robot technology aren't just being led by large organizations and research labs. While robot manufacturers Sony and Honda Motor have spent a large amount of money and time to develop their two-leg walking robots, a Japanese university student spent just $75 and six months to develop a radio-controlled robot that can walk on two legs.

The 9.8-inch-high Magdan robot looks and moves like a robot in an animated movie. Powered by a single motor, Magdan can walk forward and backward, rotate left to right, and swing its arms, said Tomotaka Takahashi, the Kyoto University student who created the robot.

To allow Magdan walk smoothly, Takahashi developed electromagnetic absorption technology which allows the robot to walk on an iron-plate base using magnetic feet.

Although Takahashi is a university student, the development of Magdan was not related to his studies. "I wanted to make a robot simply because I loved the robots appeared in animations. I thought about it two years ago and made a prototype within a half year," he said.

Takahashi has contracted with a Japanese toy maker to commercialize Magdan, which is expected to hit the market in May or June this year.

Looking to insure an adequate supply of robot engineers to meet future demand, Nippon Engineering College of Hachioji will open a Robotics Department in April to train engineers in robot technologies.

"At the moment, the field of humanoid robot developments is short of engineers," said Toshiyuki Itakura, who will be teaching in the Robotics Department. "Currently, a group of people who gained experience and specialized knowledge through their careers are the only ones capable of developing humanoid robots at corporations. This department hopes to allow students to gain such specialized knowledge at the college level."

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