Hitachi has recently shown a new version of its humanoid robot EMIEW2 (Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Workmate2), which can scoot around on broken ground (the robot handles bumps that are up to 1.5cm high), recognize and distinguish between different human voices and converse with people.
EMIEW2 still runs as fast as 6km/h, stands 80cm tall but he’s apparently gained a kilo in the past few months (he now weighs 14kg).
And thanks to a new “adaptive suspension control” system, the robot can now move much smoother. Watch him dash over uneven ground here:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-tdxs4l62s&w=640&h=385]
That system also makes it possible for EMIEW2 to perform a couple of new moves:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh6UidyqUxY&w=640&h=385]
In close-up:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqW8wlq2Okg&w=640&h=385]
Hitachi has also improved EMIEW2’s speech recognition capabilities (there are 14 microphones built into the robot’s head), as shown in the clip below (in Japanese):
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZMR15A8T6M&w=640&h=385]
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Via NODE [JP]
