Japanese rail company rolls out VR-piloted robot worker(newatlas.com)
newatlas.com
Japanese rail company rolls out VR-piloted robot worker
https://newatlas.com/robotics/jr-west-gundam-maintenance-robot/
16 comments
This sounds more like the "Labors" from Mobile Police Patlabor -- those were actually used in-universe for construction/maintenance work. (But of course, all humanoid robots are Gundams to the uninitiated, much like how all game consoles were Nintendos to the '90s mom)
Human Machinery, the company noted in the article responsible for the remote controlled robot arm system, has a pretty cool Japanese name: Jinki Ittai (人機一体). It's a play on the old Japanese term Jinba Ittai (人馬一体), which refers to how an experienced horserider can ride with such synergy with their horse as to appear as if they are one. The company name replaces the letter for "horse"(馬) with "machine"(機).
In fact, their official website seems to have their English name written much more literally, as Man-Machine Synergy Effectors, Inc. https://jinki.jp/
Human Machinery, the company noted in the article responsible for the remote controlled robot arm system, has a pretty cool Japanese name: Jinki Ittai (人機一体). It's a play on the old Japanese term Jinba Ittai (人馬一体), which refers to how an experienced horserider can ride with such synergy with their horse as to appear as if they are one. The company name replaces the letter for "horse"(馬) with "machine"(機).
In fact, their official website seems to have their English name written much more literally, as Man-Machine Synergy Effectors, Inc. https://jinki.jp/
The way the operator controls the arms reminds me of Evangelion. Luckily for him his nervous system is not connected to the robot.
Gundam in the title is an absolute clickbait... as expected
This.
Gundam is an acronym:
“ Genetic on Universal Neutraly Different Alloy-nium Mobile - suit”
And the article is about stainless steel exoskeleton robots, (SSEx?)
Gundam is an acronym:
“ Genetic on Universal Neutraly Different Alloy-nium Mobile - suit”
And the article is about stainless steel exoskeleton robots, (SSEx?)
Reminds me a lot of surgical robotics just at a larger (physically) scale. We went from tiny tweezers and scalpels to giant grabbing arms.
That's not a Gundam!
I was really hoping I was about to see the Exia fixing trains here lol
Reminds me of this Veritasium episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1_OpWiyijU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1_OpWiyijU
Now that I think about it, those super robot pilots never use VR nor do their helmets support AR.
A bit like a Centaur robot but with telescoping. Great design for the job.
The video in the tweet shows a big latency between the head movement of the operator and the head movement of the mech, I assume this is making the pilot rather motion sick.
They may benefit from using a 360 Camera and pan using software rather than have it actually actuate the head of the robot.
They may benefit from using a 360 Camera and pan using software rather than have it actually actuate the head of the robot.
You can read more about this initiative on the official Tokio Metropolitan Police page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Patlabor_episodes).