Sugar Powered Batteries from Sony

Now Sony has developed a bio carbohydrate battery that generates power from sugar. The eco friendly battery generates electricity by mixing enzymes with a sugar solution which is capable of generating up to 50mW of power.

Creating the energy is similar to the process of converting food into energy in the human body. The enzyme’s action on the sugar pumps hydrogen ions and electrons into the solution. The ions pass through a membrane establishing the potential difference that drives the connected device where they combine with oxygen from the air and electrons through the circuit to form water as a by-product.

There are no plans from Sony yet on commercial development of the battery so we’ll have to use our standard non eco friendly batteries a little while longer.

source: http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/

Surfing in the Rain

Science & Technology
SURFING IN THE RAIN
Internet Umbrella Lets Users Browse in Any Weather (October 4, 2007)

The umbrella projects images on to its underside. ©Pileus LLC / Keio University

Gray, rainy days may be about to get more colorful thanks to a new umbrella invented by Japanese researchers. The Internet Umbrella, conceived by a team at Keio University, acts as a photo browser by displaying images from the Internet as the user walks along. The handle of the umbrella contains a projector that displays images on the underside of the umbrella.

Student Inventors
The Internet umbrella, named Pileus (meaning the head of a mushroom) was created by two young graduate students. Second-year doctoral student Matsumoto Takashi, 27, and first-year master’s student Hashimoto Sho, 22, of Keio University’s Graduate School of Media and Governance were motivated by a desire to make walking on rainy days more enjoyable. Both belong to a research lab led by Professor Okude Naohito that is renowned for its interaction design research based on the concept of ubiquitous computing.

Prompted to start this project by the everyday act of using an umbrella, Matsumoto and Hashimoto combined numerous technologies to make the Internet umbrella a reality. The handle of their creation contains a camera, a motion sensor, GPS, and a digital compass. The device is controlled by rotating the grip.

The Internet Umbrella, Pileus ©Pileus LLC / Keio University

Pileus has been presented or displayed in several countries, including the United States, France, and Austria, and won the Innovation Prize at Laval Virtual 2007, Europe’s biggest virtual reality convention.

Future Vision
The Internet Umbrella has two main functions. One is browsing the online photo-sharing site Flickr. Not only can the umbrella display photos from the site; using the camera in the handle it can also take pictures and upload them to the Internet via a wireless connection. Pileus users can thus view each other’s photo streams. The umbrella can also display movies from the video-sharing site YouTube.

The other key function of the device is to help users find their way around by displaying 3D maps using Google Earth. The umbrella “knows” the user’s location (thanks to GPS) and direction (thanks to the digital compass), so it can show a bird’s-eye map of the surrounding area, enabling the user to navigate streets with ease. Both functions are easily controlled by rotating the grip of the umbrella. The team is currently working on enabling photos taken with the umbrella to be displayed on the map, along with their location.

©Pileus LLC / Keio University

Predicting continued growth in the quantities of tagged photos and consumer-generated media on the Internet, the developers imagine a time when Pileus users will be able to view social information generated by other users anywhere in real time. On their website they stated, “This product aims to enhance people’s everyday lives by synchronizing information on the Internet and in real places.”

source: http://web-japan.org/trends/science/sci071003.html

World's Smallest Humanoid Robot

Science & Technology
WORLD'S SMALLEST HUMANOID ROBOT
i-SOBOT Can Dance and Mimic Animals (August 31, 2007)

i-SOBOT poses with its programmable remote control. (©2007 TOMY Company, Ltd.)

A new humanoid robot, certified as the world's smallest, will be released this autumn by Japanese toy manufacturer Tomy Company. On October 25, 2007, the Omnibot 17µ i-SOBOT is scheduled to hit the market—as well as the 2008 edition of Guinness World Records, which will list the product as "the smallest humanoid robot in production." Robotics fans look forward to i-SOBOT as a fun toy to add to their collections, but also as a leap forward in miniaturization of the advanced parts that go into these high-tech tools.

Surprising Size and Price
i-SOBOT stands just 16.5 centimeters tall, and weighs only around 350 grams. While the robot fits in the palm of your hand, it remains a fully outfitted bipedal machine, with 17 moving joints. Used throughout the body are tiny, custom servomotors developed by Tomy. The robot's onboard gyro-sensor allows it to maintain its balance automatically as it goes smoothly through its programmed motions. i-SOBOT comes with an infrared remote-control unit, but users can also use voice commands to control it.

Tomy's i-SOBOT architecture, the control system developed to operate this new robot, makes use of 19 integrated circuit chips that work in tandem to enable the toy's complex actions.

The miniaturized robot fits comfortably in the palm of the hand. (©2007 TOMY Company, Ltd.)

i-SOBOT will be sold for ¥29,800 before tax ($248 at ¥120 to the dollar) in fully assembled form, complete with rechargeable batteries and its remote control, which features twin joysticks, programmable buttons, and an LCD screen. According to the manufacturer, this price is quite affordable for a robot of this complexity. In addition to its release in Japan, the robot will make its way to markets in the United States and elsewhere in Asia. In 2008 Tomy intends to extend sales to Europe as well. To reach its global sales target of 300,000 units, the company is localizing i-SOBOT's software in English and Chinese in addition to Japanese.

Four Modes for Action
An attractive feature of this versatile robot is its four separate modes for controlling the action. In Remote Control Mode, the user manages the robot's movements directly with the command buttons and joysticks on the wireless remote. In Programming Mode, the user has the option to easily choose commands from a list of available actions—182 in all— or to use the controller to create original actions, or use a combination of the two to program complex sequences that can be up to 240 steps long, with 80 steps stored in each of the robot's three memory slots. Special Action Mode, meanwhile, includes 18 more complex preprogrammed actions, such as "hula dance" and "air drumming." And Voice Control Mode lets the user give the robot one of 10 commands, to which the i-SOBOT can respond with a range of actions.

This robot is entertaining to the ear as well as the eye. As it goes through its actions it plays sounds from its library of nearly 100 sound effects and songs. The speaker can be turned off, too, when silent action is preferable. The toy is humanoid in form, but the designers have included playful actions in its repertoire that have it imitate the adorable movements of animals.

Tomy has taken steps to make i-SOBOT eco-friendly. The toy manufacturer is shipping the robot with three rechargeable AAA batteries from Sanyo Electric Co., whose Eneloop nickel metal hydride batteries let users keep the robot running for months without sending dead batteries to landfills. Tomy is also collaborating in Sanyo's Energy Evolution Project by making i-SOBOT part of the programs carried out at Japanese elementary schools. The companies hope to boost children's awareness of environmental issues by powering the fun robot with rechargeable cells.

source: http://web-japan.org/trends/science/index.html

Skype phone built into Keyboard

Are you using Skype (the free VOIP) service? It’s a great communication service but it still drops out once in while for me when I am calling China and sometimes running video and audio together crashes the application.

Still, I cannot complain, its free! With Skype you can talk via headset connected to your pc or through a special Skype phone connected to your pc.

In Japan, IT company Buffalo will launch a Skype phone next month that is already integrated into your keyboard so you don’t need to install anything (except the application of course!). Saves a bit on space which you can always use for another computer peripheral!

source: http://japansugoi.com/wordpress

Waterproof Headphones

Morito's Audio Bone Aqua Waterproof Headphones

Japanese manufacturer Morito last month introduced a cool waterproof headphone called the Audio Bone Aqua. So even when its raining or your relaxing in the pool, the Audio Bone Aqua can play your music without fear of getting your headphones wet.

The headphone uses bone conduction in which sound is transmitted to the brain through vibrations in the bones and skin tissues and not through the eardrum. The sound vibrations are sent directly to the cochlea through the skull.

Currently the Audio Bone Aqua headphone connects to your music player or mobile phone via wires though the company is working on a bluetooth edition that will allow users more freedom. Cost of the headphone is about US$80.

Source: K-tai Impress

from : http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/

Sega EMA robot

Sega EMA robot, female robot appeals to Otaku




If you are an otaku who has trouble finding a cute Japanese girlfriend, then you may need to build up your confidence with Sega’s sexy E.M.A エマ female robot.

The female shaped humanoid robot was unveiled at the International Tokyo Toy Show this June. E.M.A エマ stands for Eternal, Maiden, Actualization and is 38 centimeters tall, has a curvaceous body, sings and dances and using infrared sensors the robot will kiss nearby otaku when it goes into “Love Mode”.



The target consumers are otaku guys over 20 and Sega hopes to sell 10,000 of
the adult-oriented androids within a year. EMA is expected to be in stores in Japan this month and will cost about U$175.

sumber: http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/segas-sexy-ema-female-robot-appeals-to-otaku/

High-Tech Japan

by Richard Donovan, June 2003

The Matrix

Japan is like the shadow of The Matrix, stretching out elusively behind it as a kind of history, more than as a directly illuminating reference such as the obvious nods (should that be bows?) to Hong Kong action movies in the many fight scenes, and the genuflections to Christian themes such as sacrifice and redemption. Nevertheless, like a shadow, things Japanese are responsible for lending a certain depth to the proceedings.

The Matrix series' directors the Wachowski brothers have a pedigree that would perhaps find more widespread respect in Japan than the west. They began their narrative work as comic-book artists, working on Marvel Comics' Ectokid. In Japan, manga are seen as an alternate form of storytelling rather than the poor cousin of the novel, something with which the Wachowskis clearly concur. They are on record as big fans of anime, the animated version of manga, citing in particular their love of SF cult classics Akira (1988) and Ghost in the Shell (1996/98), which both began life as manga. In fact, the online Wikipedia contends that The Matrix contains direct allusions to both films:

Both a scene almost at the end of the movie, where Neo's breathing seems to buckle the fabric of reality in a corridor he is standing in, as well as the "psychic children" scene in the Oracle's waiting room, are evocative of similar scenes from the 1980s anime classic Akira. The title sequence, the rooftop chase scene where an agent breaks a concrete tile on the roof when landing after a jump, the scene late in the movie where a character hides behind a column while pieces of it are blown away by bullets, and a chase scene in a fruit market where shots hit watermelons, are practically identical to shots in another anime science fiction classic, Ghost in the Shell.

(http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix)