GetRobo Blog English

What's next for Foldy/Cooky/Walky robot creator Yuta Sugiura

 If you like robots, you must've seen at least one of these.  Foldy the laundry folding robot, Cooky that makes miso soup, and Walky the bipedal robot control system using the iPhone.

 Well, the creator of all three of these inventions is Yuta Sugiura, one of the rising stars in robotics in Japan. His main focus as a robotics researcher is on the interface between humans and household robots.

 GetRobo got to meet him while he was in Atlanta attending  CHI 2010. We talked about his research over dinner and I asked him what's next on his mind. His answer was the following.

  "Right now I'm interested in 2 things. One is to create a robot "concertmaster." A concertmaster is the leader in the first violin section of an orchestra and the role is to be the interface between the conductor and the instrument players. I play the violin and was a concertmaster myself. The key is to be able to communicate what the conductor wants to have happen in a way most understandable and efficient to the players. So the objective of my research is to develop a concertmaster robot that can become the interface between a person and the actuators."

 "The important thing is that I am trying to come up with a robot that itself is the interface. This is different from  developing an interface for a robot." 

 "The other thing I would like to work on is a household robot that is quite invisible - meaning that it functions for you without you knowing it. I have 2 separate images in my mind for this. One is the elf in the Grimm Brothers tale The Elves and the Shoemaker, where the elves make shoes during the night while the shoemaker is asleep. The second image I have is the Senju Kannon which is the deity with 1,000 arms. A robot arm that only appears and performs tasks when you are in need would be very helpful inside the home."  

 Listening to his ideas triggered a lot of thoughts in my head about the future of robots for the home. And I found this nice interview article on the Japanese web magazine moonlinx. It describes well where Yuta Sugiura's research is coming from. Moonlinx writer Takafumi Takani has kindly allowed GetRobo to translate his article into English so here it is. Enjoy!

- You received your master’s degree this spring and have moved on to a Ph.D. track. Can you talk about your work as a “robot creator?”

Sugiura: I’m a member of the Keio University Graduate School of Media Design (KMD), and also work as a research assistant for the Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology(ERATO) (which is a government-initiated basic research program). My main research area is in the interface of humans and household robots. I present my work at academic conferences and I also do demonstrations at shows like SIGGRAPH.

- What kind of research is that?

Sugiura: For example, a computer’s interface is its mouse and keyboard. A videogame’s interface is its controller. Even household appliances have interfaces, such as switches and remote controllers. Anything new in a household will require an interface.

However, currently robots can only be controlled by entering commands or by using videogame controllers. This is almost like bringing the movements of videogame characters into the real world. Using a videogame controller limits people to perceive robots as an extension of videogames.

There are studies being done on autonomous robots like Doraemon and Astro Boy, but it will still be a while until we start seeing autonomous robots living among humans. So my research is focused on how people and robots can coexist in the context of a household.

- What initially sparked your interest to get into robotics?

 

 

(Yuta Sugiura = far right = with his colleagues at SIGGRAPH Asia 2009)
 

Interview with Max Safai, Neato Robotics CEO

 GetRobo had the chance to visit Neato Robotics in Mountain View, CA, and got a first-hand look at the new robotic vacuum cleaner Neato XV-11. I wanted to try out their "crown jewel" - as CEO Max Safai puts it - which is their original inexpensive laser rangefinder that costs only $30.

 First of all, I wanted to see how the XV-11 can detect and avoid obstacles on the fly. 

 Very clever!

  It's also neat that the robot can identify a door and will not go out of the room until it has finished cleaning. Once it's done, it will go out of the door and move on to the next room. You can check out the other videos on the YouTube GetRobo Channel.

  There were some questions that I wanted to ask the company. The main one being whether they are willing to sell the laser rangefinder component separately. 

 The following is an edited excerpt from an interview with Neato CEO, Mr. Safai. The original article appeared on GetRobo Japanese on Feb. 6. 

 

 Q. How do you feel about competing with iRobot?

Cooky makes you miso soup

  Did you know that the proper way to make miso soup is to boil the water then put miso in, but NOT to return to a boil after you put in the miso? Well, you can program Cooky to do just that, or anyway you want to do it. How neat!

 A project by the Robotic Life Project at the Keio University Graduate School of Media Design. The main person behind it is Yuta Sugiura (who by the way is also the son of Tomio Sugiura, well-known for developing Dynamizer and other humanoid robots).

 To copy the objective of developing Cooky:

"We propose a cooking system that operates in an open environment. The system cooks a meal by pouring various ingredients into a boiling pot on an induction heating cooker and adjusts the heating strength according to the user's instructions. We then describe how it successfully functions in a shared space with the user. First, we use small mobile robots instead of built-in arms to save space, improve flexibility and increase safety. Second, we use detachable visual markers to allow the user to easily configure the real-world environment. Third, we provide a graphical user interface to display detailed cooking instructions to the user. We hope insights obtained in this experiment will be useful for the design of other household systems in the future. "

  

One scenario for future home robots - Magic Cards

 I just found out about this video through freelance journalist Moriyama-san's super informative blog. First half of the video is still imaginary but the second half describes what is currently possible.  

 You can read about the project here. I support research in this direction. And we don't necessarily need humanoids to do everything for us.

New Helper Robot Project Sets Off - Here's the shopping list!

The organization that holds the ever-popular robot competition ROBO-ONE has come up with a new contest - build a helper robot that will REALLY help humans in our everyday lives AND MOREOVER that will sell. The Helper Robot Project aims to entice hobbyists to compete in a series of contests that will test certain skills and if the winning robot's skill is good enough, the sponsoring firm(s) will try to commercialize it.

The first such competition will be around developing a teleoperated biped robot that can shop at a mall while you stay at home. Finals will occur on Sept. 6, 2008, and will require the robots to shop at 3 stores inside the Azalea shopping mall in Kawasaki City. (Azalea and the Kawasaki and Kanagawa Robot Business Conference are cooperating with ROBO-ONE for this event.) The robot will have to pick up a product, communicate with the clerk (bargaining will have a high score) and pay, etc. Unlike the battling ROBO-ONE competition, the teleoperator will not be able to directly see the robot in action and will have to use Wi-Fi. Also the robots will have to walk down a catwalk so that people can judge their strides and looks.

And to compete in the finals, you must first win the preliminary contest which will be held on Aug. 17. There are 3 events in the preliminary - 1. picking up hard boiled eggs and putting them in a container, 2. folding a child-size T shirt and 3. a 30 minute endurance race. 

The types of products the robots must shop at the finals will not be announced till after the preliminaries and they may not have anything to do with eggs and T shirts, says Masahiro Sakigawara, General Manager of the Future Robotics Technology Center. GetRobo communicated by email with Sakigawara, who is one of the people leading this project, and he says that these objects were chosen because "we want to see more advancement in hand dexterity." 

At least one robot seemed to already be making progress on building a robot that can fold T shirts (a task that at least one of my friends complains that her boyfriend can not accomplish). A robot made by the MARU Family that is very well-know in the ROBO-ONE world is photographed below. (Thank you for the photo, Sakigawara-san!)

   

The robot can be of any size but must weigh under 30kg. And it MUST be a biped humanoid. The reason for ROBO-ONE insisting on humanoid robots is because "we think that human-shaped robots are most compatible with our society and that they can most easily work in our everyday environment" says Sakigawara.

Unfortunately you will have to be residing in Japan to participate in this competition but you can read more about it on ROBOT WATCH (Japanese).

An update on this competition here.