Originally published December 27 2005
The Partner Ballroom Dance Robot paves the way for interactive robots
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The robot was developed by a team at Tohoku University and can glide and twist on concealed rollers beneath a long "dress." The robot may preclude helpful robots that can live with and care for the elderly.
The Marilyn in question is a robot, developed by a team at Tohoku University and currently wowing crowds with her silky ballroom dancing skills at a Tokyo exhibition.
A gentle push from her partner and she glides across the floor on rollers concealed beneath a long, flowing sculpted "dress".
A squeeze of the hand and she twists.
Her graceful bow at the waltz's end brings a ripple of applause, murmurs of delight and blinding flashes from admirers' cameras.
But the Partner Ballroom Dance Robot is meant to be more than just a clever toy.
It tests the boundaries of what robots can do in harmony with human beings, explained Yasuhisa Hirata, a researcher for the project.
If someone pushes a table, the person at the other end knows to pull it," said Mr Hirata.
According to this vision, the technology used in the PBDR and elsewhere will help create robots that can live with and care for the elderly, filling an increasingly urgent need as Japanese society ages.
Japan has had robot pets, robot waitresses, robot receptionists and robot home helps.
Others, such as the PBDR, look like characters from the fertile imaginations of Japan's anime and manga artists.
For example, this dancing robot comes only in bright pink or bright blue.
She also has protruding ears atop her dainty head, a homage to Mickey Mouse.
Also, one dances into a disconcerting hollow space where a person's legs would normally be.
"It's meant to be popular, to be photographed and thus to communicate what we are doing.
"From a young age Japanese have grown up with cartoons that feature robots and we are naturally drawn to them.
As a boy, I myself always assumed that in the future humans and robots would live side by side.
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