How many of you are troubled that you are unable to accurately determine the cooking time for your instant cup noodle? To celebrate its 40th anniversary, Nissin will be releasing these really cool robot time that will “activate” to alert you when your cup noodles are ready.

Too bad its not available anywhere else but in Japan. I would love to get my hand on one of these little cool robots.

Developed using store bought components, the THKR-4 robot may move slowly and stiffly, but it nevertheless completes a number of tasks successfully.

The robot was assisted by a team of four “Evolta Sisters” whom guided the robot using an infrared device to guide its path. Of course, they also helped the robot to move up the stairs and the robot didn’t walk walk in the rain or at night (to recharge its batteries).

Its journey was recorded and uploaded onto youtube. Here’s a few videos of the that records the final week of Evolta Robot journey till it reaches its destination.

I thought it was very interesting that many Japanese folks came out of their homes and stopped their daily routines to support the robot when it crossed their paths. There was even this funny dude in the first video that sorta cosplayed as the robot just to lend his support.

This tiny green guy pulls a two-wheeled cart carrying its batteries. It is powered by 12 AA batteries and travels at a rate of 3 to 5 kilometers per hour. The batteries will be recharged once per day throughout the course of the journey.

It started its journey on 23 Sep 2010, and is expected to reach its destination in mid-Nov 2010. Four women dubbed “Evolta Sisters” will guide the robot using infrared equipment.

You can follow the little green guy’s progress on twitter or via uStream.

Source: Mainichi Japan

Wouldn’t it be really cool if the robot was able to travel around the world? Anyway, do give the little guy a wave if you are passing through the area XD

The i-Fairy is the world’s first robot to conduct a wedding. It oversaw the wedding of Tomohiro Shibata and Satoko Inoue in Tokyo. The bride, Inoue, works for the company that makes the i-Fairy, and her husband, Shibata, is a client.

Source: Reuters

In the event that it is a wedding between two robots, then who shall conduct the wedding?

Keep waiting till the end and you will see the surprising conclusion:

Source: Geekologie

I wonder if there will be a part II, where the photocopier prints a couple of hearts for the robot.

This gigantic statue will be part of Robot Land, an amusement park that is themed after robots.  Once completed, the statue will be more than twice the height of New York’s Statue of Liberty and five times taller than the Gundam statue.

Source: Robotland via Animevice

Maybe this will spark a competition between Japan and Korea to see who can build the coolest and badass robot statue. Maybe some Japanese scientist is already trying to invent Chogokin [超合金] so that we can enter into the great age of Mazinger Z.

“RIBA” (Robot for Interactive Body Assistance), a nursing-care robot developed jointly by natural sciences research institute RIKEN and Tokai Rubber Industries, Ltd., is recently unveiled at RIKEN’s Nagoya branch. The wheeled RIBA, which measures 1.4 meters in height and weighs 180 kilograms, can lift and carry a person weighing up to 61 kilograms to a wheelchair or a bed, according to the developers, who are planning to put the robot on the market within 10 years. (Mainichi)

Source: Mainichi Photo Journal

Personally I would prefer if they had made the robot into a really sexy nurse. Being carried by around a big white bear feels kinda embarrasing.

Here’s a video of the robots in action, do wait until the end when you see the robots engage in a knife fight. LOL

Source: Gizmodo

I wonder if it is really more cost-efficient to maintain the robotic arms or to just hire a chef.

The pair of baseball-playing were created by University of Tokyo professor Masatoshi Ishikawa.

The pitching robot, with its three-fingered hand, can throw 90 percent of its pitches in the strike zone, won’t need any relief from the bullpen and never asks for a pay raise.

The batting robot, which has a sensor to determine if pitches are strikes or balls, hits balls in the strike zone almost 100 percent of the time, doesn’t swing at pitches outside the strike zone, and is guaranteed to pass all drug tests.

The pitching robot throws a plastic foam ball at 25 miles per hour, but Ishikawa is hoping to increase the speed to 93 mph and make it able to throw off-speed pitches like curves and sliders. Ishikawa is also working on getting the batting robot to be able to hit to all parts of the field.

Source: Associated Press

Is there any points in creating robots which could play sports? I wouldn’t want to see a baseball match that is played by robots >_<