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Japanese rail company rolls out VR-piloted robot worker

68 points by clouddrover 5y ago

null-shell 5y ago
That's not a Gundam!
- tetsusaiga 5y ago
  I was really hoping I was about to see the Exia fixing trains here lol
Gravityloss 5y ago
A bit like a Centaur robot but with telescoping. Great design for the job.
- alex_duf 5y ago
  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.
  - _wolfie_ 5y ago
    But this is way more cool though.
  - sterlind 5y ago
    does the lag actually have to be there? the head is presumably really light; it shouldn't be too difficult to make it move as fast as a human head, right?
konart 5y ago
Gundam in the title is an absolute clickbait... as expected
- mensetmanusman 5y ago
  This. Gundam is an acronym: “ Genetic on Universal Neutraly Different Alloy-nium Mobile - suit” And the article is about stainless steel exoskeleton robots, (SSEx?)
mucio 5y ago
With the introduction of piloted robots for civil work, there will be also accidents and attempts to use them for criminal purpose. Quickly the Tokio Metropolitan Police will introduce a Special Vehicle Section equipped with patrol labor (instead of just patrol cars) or Patlabors. You can read more about this initiative on the official Tokio Metropolitan Police page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Patlabor_episodes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Patlabor_episodes).
- NoOneNew 5y ago
  Thus, we return to the proper timeline.
needle0 5y ago
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/ https://jinki.jp/
- hiccuphippo 5y ago
  The way the operator controls the arms reminds me of Evangelion. Luckily for him his nervous system is not connected to the robot.
jp0d 5y ago
Reminds me of this Veritasium episode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1_OpWiyijU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1_OpWiyijU
throwaway2016a 5y ago
Reminds me a lot of surgical robotics just at a larger (physically) scale. We went from tiny tweezers and scalpels to giant grabbing arms.
- aaron695 5y ago
imtringued 5y ago
Now that I think about it, those super robot pilots never use VR nor do their helmets support AR.

68 points by clouddrover 5y ago

null-shell 5y ago

That's not a Gundam!

tetsusaiga 5y ago
I was really hoping I was about to see the Exia fixing trains here lol

Gravityloss 5y ago

A bit like a Centaur robot but with telescoping. Great design for the job.

alex_duf 5y ago
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.
- _wolfie_ 5y ago
  But this is way more cool though.
- sterlind 5y ago
  does the lag actually have to be there? the head is presumably really light; it shouldn't be too difficult to make it move as fast as a human head, right?

konart 5y ago

Gundam in the title is an absolute clickbait... as expected

mensetmanusman 5y ago
This. Gundam is an acronym: “ Genetic on Universal Neutraly Different Alloy-nium Mobile - suit” And the article is about stainless steel exoskeleton robots, (SSEx?)

mucio 5y ago

With the introduction of piloted robots for civil work, there will be also accidents and attempts to use them for criminal purpose. Quickly the Tokio Metropolitan Police will introduce a Special Vehicle Section equipped with patrol labor (instead of just patrol cars) or Patlabors. You can read more about this initiative on the official Tokio Metropolitan Police page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Patlabor_episodes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Patlabor_episodes).

NoOneNew 5y ago
Thus, we return to the proper timeline.

needle0 5y ago

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/ https://jinki.jp/

hiccuphippo 5y ago
The way the operator controls the arms reminds me of Evangelion. Luckily for him his nervous system is not connected to the robot.

jp0d 5y ago

Reminds me of this Veritasium episode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1_OpWiyijU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1_OpWiyijU

throwaway2016a 5y ago

Reminds me a lot of surgical robotics just at a larger (physically) scale. We went from tiny tweezers and scalpels to giant grabbing arms.

aaron695 5y ago

imtringued 5y ago

Now that I think about it, those super robot pilots never use VR nor do their helmets support AR.