This past Sunday we went to a new Mall in Tsukuba called Iias. It was kind of a long drive but, we did not have much else to do so we thought, let's hit the road. Inside Iias Mall we found the Robot Museum run by Cyberdyne Systems. The name is borrowed from the Terminator movies, yes but these folks are making the unreal, real. The picture above is of me in front of their thermal camera. With the thermal viewer, you could touch your hand to something cold and leave an imprint of heat that the camera would see. It was very Predator vision-like.
In the second part we were able to see a demonstration of the HAL suit. This suit combines robotic servo motors with direct nerve impulse control. Basically, when the entire suit is worn, those who could not walk before can now walk unassisted with this suit. I volunteered to have an arm portion hooked up to my arm for the demo. They placed sensors on my wrist, bicep, and tricep. When I moved, the robot arm moved. When the researchers held my arm down, the robot moved. It was really freaky. When you think of the other things they could do with this technology, it blows your mind. Just think, 80 meter high robots! Japan is on it's way to creating a real Gundam robot!
2 comments:
Hello, I'm a Brazilian visitor of you blog! Firstly, let me congratulate you for your wonderful life with your daughter and wife.
I discovered this blog yesterday and I am anxious for more posts. I read about Inzai, which seemed to be a very nice city to live in, and searched for more information. This way, I found your blog. Sadly, there is not much information/photos about Inzai around the web. However, you blog counters that, so, congratulations once more (and not just for your life, but also for the blog)!
Well Hello there Brazilian visitor! Thank's for your comments. I'm glad you enjoy the blog. I think the reason that you will not see too much info on Inzai is because, untill a few years ago, the town did not exist. About 7 to 10 years ago the Japanese government started having towns and villages merge together in order to consolidate resources and save taxpayer money. You actually might find more info regarding the Inba Numa area next to ours. That area lies between us and Narita. It is a very beutiful marsh area that has thousands of swans that visit there each year. It is great to see.
Now that I know I have some fans, I have more pressure on me to make some more entries. I just wish I had some more items to write so they will be more interesting. This past weekend the wife and daughter had the flu and we stayed home. We have a 3 day weekend coming up so I might have something after that, so keep reading if you like!
Thanks!
Mark Williams
Post a Comment