A robotic researcher creates predicting robots that position themselves underfoot for your next step
Posted 09.21.2009 at 5:00 pm
8 Comments
Step by Step You can't go anywhere these days without stepping on a robot
Hiroo Iwata
Japan certainly hasn't let the recession damp its enthusiasm for all things robot, even if much of the robotic workforce still suffers from unemployment idleness.
The robot tiles emerged as the brainchild of Hiroo Iwata, a virtual reality researcher at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. A touch-sensitive conductive fabric covers each robot and gauges the pressure applied by a walking person's foot, which goes toward predicting the next step.
Related Articles
 | Evolving Robots Learn To Lie To Each Other |
 | Could Robots Unite Under One Operating System? |
 | Robot Unemployment Rate Soars in Japan |
Tags
Science, Jeremy Hsu, japan, robot, robots, tile, tiles, Video, virtual reality, VRThere's not much obvious practical use, although Iwata has suggested that the tiles could work well for a virtual reality simulator and provide the sense of going nowhere fast. Now, if those robotic tiles could fly ...
[via Technabob]
Want to learn more about breakthroughs in electronics, medicine, nanotech, and more?
Subscribe to Popular Science and enter to win $5,000!
Subscribe to Popular Science and enter to win $5,000!
8 Comments
To comment, please Login.
Download Our iPhone App
Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone with full articles, images and offline viewing
Grab the Tech Buyer's Guide iPhone App
Carry everything you need to make a smart buy on HDTVs, cameras and 14 other product categories right in your pocket
Follow Us On Twitter
Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed
Become a Fan On Facebook
Share links with friends, comment on stories and more
February 2010: Renovating America
Innovative fixes for five of the country's biggest infrastructure messes, plus a look the quest to read the human mind, the LCD screen that might finally kill paper dead, and the world's scariest science.
Read the issue here.
Popular Science Photo Pool
Popular on Popsci
Most Viewed
Science
- Physicists Prove Teleportation of Energy Is Possible
- Insulin Can Now Be Made Cheaply from Flowers
- New Analysis Says Cannabis Breeders Should Grow for Safety As Well As Potency
- Long-Awaited Barefoot Running Study Finds Sneakers Are Harmful
- Which Organs Can I Live Without, and How Much Cash Can I Get for Them?
- At Cambridge Alien Conference, Scientists Warn Of An Invisible Earth and Hostile ETs
- Carbon Crystals Harder Than Diamond Found In Finnish Meteorite
- Robots Display Predator-Prey Co-Evolution, Evolve Better Homing Techniques
- Ultra-Strong Biomimetic Adhesive Could Allow Human Wall-Walking, Ceiling-Dancing
- Spray-On 'Liquid Glass' Protects Surfaces From Just About Anything
Most Commented
Science
- Physicists Prove Teleportation of Energy Is Possible
- This Week in the Future, January 25-29, 2010
- This Week in the Future, February 1-5, 2010
- New Analysis Says Cannabis Breeders Should Grow for Safety As Well As Potency
- Carbon Crystals Harder Than Diamond Found In Finnish Meteorite
- Spray-On 'Liquid Glass' Protects Surfaces From Just About Anything
- At Cambridge Alien Conference, Scientists Warn Of An Invisible Earth and Hostile ETs
- Which Organs Can I Live Without, and How Much Cash Can I Get for Them?
- China's Power Boom Means West May Swap Oil Dependency for Green Tech Dependency
- Compound LJ001 Acts Like Antibiotic Against Viruses
Most Emailed
Science
- New Analysis Says Cannabis Breeders Should Grow for Safety As Well As Potency
- The Quest to Read the Human Mind
- For the First Time, Researchers Find Longevity Gene That Helps Determine Lifespan
- Physicists Prove Teleportation of Energy Is Possible
- Bees Can Be Trained to Recognize Human Faces
- Cesium-Snatching "Venus Flytrap" Material Takes the Bad Stuff Out of Nuclear Waste
- Engineered Tobacco Plants Grow Synthetic Solar Cells
- MIT Experiment Envisions a New Way to Harness Fusion Power (With a 1,000-Pound Magnet)
- By Stimulating Stem Cells, Bioactive Nanogel Regenerates Cartilage in Joints
- Home Fuel Cell Charging Station Could Help Power Hydrogen Economy
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2009 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
I can see it now these tiles placed under water in a shallow pond as the person walks across the pond it appears like he is walking on water. Maybe Jesus held the patent on this over 2000 years ago but didn't live long enough to tell anyone about it.
i dont know if thats stupid or cool. obviously this is a prototype. The speed with which the tilebots move will probably increase, but it seems like they can only 'predict' forward steps. How about steps backwards and steps to the sides? Or jumps even?! Now that would be cool. Disregard everything here if the Japanese guy covered this all in the video. I don't understand Japanese unfortunately.
Of course the Japanese WOULD make something creative like this and have so few applications, probably because the tilebots are cute or something
I tried really hard to dig it. I swear. But it is just way too pointless.
The Japanese wonder why they have such high unemployment and insane inflation. They build worthless things with no practical application all the while spending copious amounts of money to do so and have nothing but asinine toys to show for it.
It's a segmented TREADMILL that you cant even run on!
--GTO--
up next in japan, platforms that you strap to your feet! prevent excess wear and tear to the skin on the bottom of your foot! NOVEL IDEAS AHEAD!
ummm.... treadmill anyone??? not to be the guy that says the obvious
This is perfect for a guy like me who likes to take one step, stop, and think about my next step before I take it. Right foot...ummm.. left foot
You all lack vision. That's why you don't invent. This has a ton of applications. The most obvious is bridge laying for infantry - land, sea, and air. On the other side since not all technology has to be used to blow people up is in car parks. A parking lot can be made of these things to better store vehicles based on the number actively in the car park. Additionally, the same bots could bring the cars to the owner when requested. I know it hurts to think but try it ya lazy bums!