Visit to the Miraikan science museum in Tokyo

January 2012

I had the opportunity to visit the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (“Miraikan”) in Tokyo, Japan.
Website: www.miraikan.jst.go.jp/en/
They have a permanent exhibition called “Robots In Your Life” where you can see and interact with various famous robots from Japan.

Fig. 1:
A HRP-1 biped humanoid robot is
hanging inside a display case.

Fig. 2:
A poster of the HRP-4C biped
humanoid robot.

There’s a display showing the history of biped robots, including the WABOT-1 and WABOT-2 from Waseda University.

Fig. 3:
WABOT-1 from 1973.

Fig. 4:
WAP-1, WABOT-1 and WL-9DR
from the 70’s.

Fig. 5:
WABOT-2, WL-10RD and WL-12R
from the 80’s.

There’s a live demonstration of Honda’s ASIMO robot which includes walking forwards, walking sideways, balancing on one leg, dancing and kicking a soccer ball. Since I visited, I heard they have added running to the demo also.

Video:
ASIMO demonstration.

Fig. 6:
The demo area has multiple markers placed
on the floor that the robot uses to estimate
its position and how far it needs to walk.
I’m not sure if they use the robot’s on-board
camera or an overhead camera looking down
at the scene.

Fig. 7:
A plush soft toy version of ASIMO
that you can buy in the gift shop.

Fig. 8:
ASIMO appears from behind
this door.

Fig. 9:
After the demo you can see
ASIMO behind the glass door.

Fig. 10:
Paro is an interactive robot that looks like a baby seal.
It was designed for therapeutic purposes, for people
who have Dementia or Alzheimers.