The Japanese have a long history with robots, going all the way back to karakuri ningyo, mechanical dolls that mimic human movements and do things like serve tea and bow to guests, which date back to the 18th century. (If William Gibson is reading this, there’s a steampunk book idea here, I just know it.) Today, robots play a relatively large part in daily life here, from assembling cars to acting as robotic pets to occasionally saving Tokyo from attacking aliens. Universities and companies in Japan invest heavily in the development of new kinds of robots, like the famous Asimo who can walk up and down stairs or a female robot that struts in a sexy manner to get your attention, with the the Holy Grail being to create a robot that can take care of Japan’s aging citizens. On Sunday I spent the day at the Robocup Junior Championship, where ten teams did battle with soccer-playing robots based on the Lego MindStorms platform, zooming around a game field searching for a ball that they could “see” with a light sensor and figuring out the best way to propel it into the goal. It was very exciting — the final match came down to one team of robots using the current NXT generation of MindStorms and a team using the older RCX series, which has stronger motors. In the end, the older generation prevailed, but my son’s team did well enough to get invited to the regional championships in Tokyo — he was thrilled.
