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>> Hi, everybody. Well, thank you for joining us today. The presentator is a company called
ZMP. It's one of the very interesting robotic start-up coming from Japan. And as you may
know, there are a bunch of robotic start-up in Japan but most of them are sticking on
two legs robot and they were. But this uniqueness of this company is, recently, they decided
to go into the consumer market and try to integrate it in daily life of us. In this
case, you see their earlier robots in the middle which got--which was selected one of
the best invention of the year by Time Magazine last year and then later, they're going to
show you the newest robot called Miuro, which is integrated iPod with WiFi and hopefully,
it will be connected to some Google service in the future. So, here, we have two people;
the president of ZMP and also the main business engineer who talks about the company introduction.
So... >> TANIGUCHI: Hello, everybody. My name is
Hisashi Taniguchi. The [INDISTINCT] and the CO--the ZMP Incorporated Japanese Robotics
Company. So, we have developed Miuro, the robot which I am going to be talking this
afternoon. So, ZMP was established in January 2001 and we have proposed our vision, so creation
of a new lifestyle useful and joyful and--so, by incorporating robotic technology into our
daily life. So, without further delay, I want to thank you for the opportunity to present
our company in the demonstration. So, I will pass the mic to one of our members, Mr. David
Aliaga. >> ALIAGA: Thank you very much. Thank you
very much, Mr. Taniguchi. My name is David Aliaga. I'm in charge of international management
strategy offices in ZMP and I'm going to be presenting our robots. So, first of all, I
mean, the main theme of this afternoon is our latest robot. But, you know, to give you
some idea who are we, we're going to be--brief introduction of our previous robots. By previous,
I don't mean that they're not useful anymore. They're very useful. So, this is basically
our history. So, I'm going to be talking about this. Our first robot was called Pino. This
robot was the result of our--of Japanese science and technology project which was technologically
transferred to us and we started commercializing. And after that, we made a complete redesign
of the interior and so that Pino Version 2. And this year, we have actually redesigned
it again and now, it's much more stable and it's Pino version 3. As you can see, Pino
had a very cute exterior. That was the objective of both project and also of our company. We
believe that robots, you know--you see robots in any other companies or in any other places
and you see robots that are very, you know, clumsy and, you know, be a lot of cables or
whatever. And we believe that, you know, robots--personal robots have to have a good exterior, a good,
pleasurable exterior because they're going to be interacting with us, with humans. And
so we want to be pleasured. I mean, we want to be--you know, it's a pleasurable experience
to have them and to--well, not to talk with them but maybe in the future. So, that's why
this very cute exterior was created for the robot and actually became very popular in
Japan, appear in television commercials like NTT Docomo mobile cell phone, UCC which is
coffee company, and also video of a Japanese pop star, Utada Hikaru. And she--I mean, our
robot appeared in the video as well. And also appeared in the Museum Of Modern Art in New
York. So, it was, as a character, became very popular. And our second--our second robot
is called Nuvo. And actually we have one over here, you know. So, I'm going to maybe, you
know, be ready to--for, you know, interacting me and Nuvo together. So, hello, Nuvo. A little
shy at first, you know. >> Hello, Google. How are you today?
>> ALIAGA: See? You know, when he enters into, you know, like a little more [INDISTINCT]
then that's okay, you know. And what else can you do, Nuvo? Okay. You see it over there
also. Maybe he's a little tired. [INDISTINCT] Oh, he's doing a little exercise, you know.
Opposite, opposite. You know, he actually does more exercise than me. Yeah. A little
lazy, you know. Say hello to everybody. Please say hello to Nuvo as well. All right. So,
as you can see this, we wanted to make a robot with a stylish design and cutting-edge technology
that can, you know, dance while playing music, announce the time, become a camera man. I
don't know if you have notice it, you know, it has a camera to take pictures for you.
And also, you know, it can be used via cell phone so it can keep security at home because
you know what's happening at home when you're not there. And as you can see also, received
a lot of exposure. Actually, you can see over there Will Smith, you know, when he came to
Japan to promote his--the movie I-Robot, you know. Yeah. I mean, Nuvo was there. Simply,
well, he wanted to be there. And also New York Times, appeared in New York Times at
the magazine Time--actually, nominated like one of the coolest inventions of 2005. So--and
it has several cool features. First of all, you know, the it was developing collaboration
with several creative people, you know, very creative people like, for example, Kino Guyama
who is a very famous industrial designer of, you know, Ferrari or Pininfarina and several
other artists that you can see over there. And also--well, not only artists, you know.
It was also with technical people, several companies--several technical companies [INDISTINCT]
and for example, Seiko. That robot's shoes--because as you can see, it has shoes--was developed
by Mizuno, which is a Japanese company as well. And so, it was a huge effort and we
were very happy to develop something like this. But also, I'm going to present another
robot. You know, this is--this robot is called Nuvo. And there is E-Nuvo, meaning educational
Nuvo because, you know, this robot is for every people--for people who want to, you
know, play, interact, use the music, voice recognition, all the features. And--but, you
know, there are people who wants to learn now it works, right? I mean, why does it work?
Why is it moving? So, that's why we developed this robot over here. And as you can see,
you know, the lower part is very similar. So, I mean, putting aside the camera and the
voice recognition features, you know, with this robot, you can learn all areas related
to robotics like electronics, mechanics, control theory, programming. So--and this different
than other robots, you know. This is a totally open system. So, we view the--we give our
codes, how we do it, how did we explain it, software, everything. So, this is actually
being used in Japan, pretty much being used in Japan. As you can see there in the photograph,
that's the photograph of a university in Japan in which they are using, you know, these robots
for--I mean, one robot, one student. They're learning robotics over there. And also outside
Japan, we have some clients in Mexico, some clients in Singapore, some clients in Taiwan.
I believe some in the Untied States but I'm not really sure. And, you know, I put the
Mexico one because first of all, they're very cute, you know. They put these Mexican hats
over there. And second of all, they're champions, you know, because they went to Korea and they
won a robotic contest in Korea maybe in 2004. So, well, they deserve a place to be there,
you know. And plus, they are cute. Well, those are the robots we have been developing. The
philosophy of our robots is, as I said, they have to be robots that are, you know, near
the human. It's not like something esoteric or anything. You have to--you have a very,
you know, pleasurable exterior or interface with the human and change somehow the lifestyle
of us--of humans. So, talking about this, we're ready--we're ready to talk about Miuro,
our latest robot, which is a little bit different. A little bit different. So, Miuro is short
for music innovation-based utility robot technology. But that's very, you know, long. And what
we want it to be is, as you can see it in the--in the--in the screen, we want it to
be my personal DJ. That's our objective, our dream, our vision. So, without further delay,
I think maybe we would like to see a little bit of the robot. Is the camera okay? All
right. So, let's see small demonstration of our robot. You know, it's the--as you can
see, this is not a bipedal, right? And, you know, it's dancing. And--maybe the camera?
Be careful with that one. So, you know, it's dancing and you maybe want to dance, you know,
with it, right? So, because I want to keep with the--with the rhythm. All right. And,
you know, oh, I have to--I have to tell you the dance is not just some part in that we
program because we're crazy, no. It's just, you know, the patterns of the dance is, you
know, atone with the music which is much better than me I can say. All right. So, okay. I
can't stop. See, what do I do? All right. So, this is our musical robot, our Miuro.
And I'm going to be explaining a little bit what is inside Miuro. I mean, why is it different?
Because you know, you see--you see Miuro, okay, it's moving, it's cute but, okay, it's
a musical player, nothing else. But no, I mean, you think so? That's not it. You know,
we don't want it to be. And I'm going to be repeating this, you know, the whole afternoon
so please just get used to it. We don't want it to be just a musical player one more of
many, you know, in the market. That's not our objective. But first of all I'm going
to be talking what's inside, you know, our robot. We want to integrate into the robot
both musical technology and robotics technology. And we have developed this robot. I mean,
it was a co-effort together with Kenwood which is a Japanese company, you know, for--very
specialize in music. And so, first of all talking about only sound and music, it has
three characteristics that make it a very good high quality sound. I think we were going
to be listening soon an example of how good the sound is. And the first--the first thing
that, you know, you see--when you see the robot is that, you know, it's a--it's a sphere.
So, even for Kenwood it was--it was a challenge, you know, they have never design speakers
such as this, you know, sphericals. Now, listen. You know, it's a very good reproduction for its size. It's
the best and, you know, first as I said the shape, the spherical shape. Even though it
was a challenge for Kenwood you know the experts in musical technology said that, you know,
that's actually the best shape that a speaker can have. So, actually it was--it contributed
to the quality of the music. The second thing is that, you know, we divide the speakers
into four channels. You can see here, two over here for the--for the low tones and two
over here for the high tones. So, we didn't want to sacrifice the high tone reproduction
for example just to make it sure it works, you know. It's--it actually works--I mean,
with high tones, with low tones. And the third thing that you can see in the schematic in
the--in the presentation is that there is a double enclosure. Meaning that inside the
robot, you know, there is--there is a double--I mean, well, enclosure as I said. With that
objective that, you know, the music, the sound comes from here not from some weird, you know,
song from here. And there's a reverberation it would be awful to listen it. So, this all
qualities of a musical technology of course as I said it was a collaborative with Kenwood.
And the other thing apart from music--oh, first of all I'm going to tell you what kind
of music can it play. First of all it can play iPod. And please. We're going to see--where
is the iPod over here. Because a dock--I mean, not a dock but, you know, a place to put the
iPod over here. You can see? And, you know what, this supports, you know, third generation
iPod so not only the one who's over there. And also not only--I mean, with iPod, you
know, you can insert the iPod and see the contents of your iPod totally I mean, with--when
it's connected, the Miuro with the iPod. Also I can--you can enjoy your iTunes music library
or your Windows Media Player music library by using this Miuro connected with a wire--I
mean, through our wireless LAN with a PC. And finally, I mean, last but not the least.
And you know, you can use it to play internet radio. And I have to point for you that, you
know, you don't need a PC for that. I mean, we're going to see--we're going to see on
the reproduction. I don't know if you can see it very clearly with the camera. But anyway,
we are going to see how this works a little bit. First of all let's suppose you buy--I
mean, you get your Miuro, you bring it let's say here. You bring it here. And then you
start searching for a, you know, the wireless networks that there is--here, there's Google
and Google guest and I think we are guest. So, we are guest. So, okay. Then let's do
it with the Google guest. Once it's on, then we can already play some internet radio. So,
what I wanted to convey was that, you know, it doesn't need a PC just--it needs just the,
you know, the wireless LAN connection so that the robot can, you know, play your favorite
music, I mean, by the--I mean, your favorite, how do you call it, station, radio station.
Those three are iPod internet radio and iTunes and Windows Media Player are the things that,
you know, this robot can play. And the schematics, the electronics inside. First of all there
is the robot module which--is in-charge of controlling all the robotic, you know, features
like the display, the Gyro acceleration censor. Oh, I didn't mention the Gyro acceleration.
I'm going to be mentioning later. Distance censors, motors, everything related with,
you know, robotic technology. There is the audio model which is in-charge of everything
related with audio. You know, the tweeter, the woofer and also, you know, sound effects,
everything that assures a good reproduction on music. And then multimedia model which
in charge of the camera. Oh, I didn't mention that it has a camera. I'm full of surprises
as you can see, and the wireless LAN. So, now talking about motion because we have talked
a lot about music. Now, we are going to be talking about motion. You know, this robot
can perform several things. You already saw the dance, right? And I was pointing out why
dancing--sorry my enthusiastic dance. But, you know, I was--I was pointing out that,
you know, this dance is not just some pre-core patterns that, you know, they just--for example--I
don't know, I mean, you play something really, really funky and then after that, you know,
it starts doing some kind of ballet or something. I mean, there is synchronization between the
rhythm--I mean, the music--the rhythm of the music and the--and the movements. Of course,
you can somehow select different basic patterns but then after that is a dynamical synchronization.
So, okay, see. You can see there. Now, we're going to be interacting a little bit, right?
Look, look, I'm not touching it. I'm not touching it. See, you know, he's not touching it. Okay.
Now, look, look, look. See I'm not touching it. See. So, there are sensors, you know,
for object detection of your robot and also for area detection here. So, you know, that's
what it makes, you know, that some several features that we believe are very, very, interesting
in terms of dance. Also there is another feature I'm going to be telling you. There's a sensor
feature. Now, you can see there's a--there's a bottom in the--in the--in the remote control.
And pressing that button makes you, you know, makes the robot sensor through you. And you
can move and the robot will follow you and see where you're going and you keep moving
and you keep moving and the robot will keep, you know, looking for you, right? So, Miuro
will try to face you which is the--to achieve a better spot for listening quality. Okay.
Excellent. All right. Now, you know, you see that's moving and moving and going around
and whatever. But, you know, it should be, you know, in the, you know, the center should
be moving also, you know, and maybe the iPod would do woof over there. So, why it doesn't
do this? You know we incorporate also balancing technology. That means, even though, you know,
the robot is moving and moving all the time, you know, the center it's, you know, its kept
stable, stabilized because we use Gyro accelerator censors that keep it stable. So, that, you
know, for example the iPod is always, you know, always horizontal position. So, these
are some features that this robot has. And there's one more feature that I want to talk
about. And actually it's one of the features that we are more enthusiastic about and you
are--later you're going to see why we're interested in this feature. And this feature is called
autonomous motion. Now, autonomous motion means--well, its name says, you know, autonomous
in the sense that the robot will move by itself. I mean, autonomously. I mean, okay. It will
obey your orders of course with the remote control of course because we don't want our
robot to be out of control, right? So, it will obey your orders but other than that
it will--it will act by itself. So, you're ready? All right. So, let suppose--I'm going
to explain this later but let suppose you have a favorite in listening [INDISTINCT]
and we are going to be moving--I mean, you move the listening, the robot should favor
this in [INDISTINCT] for example over there. Oh, okay. I like it there, I like it there.
So, you want to record and listen in [INDISTINCT] and you record it with the--in the remote
control, you select a location and you say, okay, you want to record it. And yes, it has
been successfully saved. So, now this listening point is into your remote control and then,
you know, that Robot keeps doing what it has to do, you know, move, dance and do stuff.
And you also do your stuff. And then maybe later that day, let's say, you know, I want
to listen music and my favorite sport, right? So, all you have to do is just, you know,
press the button which--it has been recorded. And then, you know, you just go on and have
a cappuccino. Because the robot will start--okay? Oh. So, the robot will start calculating each
root to the listening--to the listening sport that you--that you like by itself. I mean,
you don't need to direct it. You don't need to do anything. So, now, why do we want to
do this? You know, it's not because, you know, we have fun, you know, some million years
in our company, you know, and say, "Hey, why don't we put some autonomous motion. That
would be cool." And then you put it. And then you don't know why. No, but actually there
is a reason why we want autonomous motion. First of all, as I said before that I wasn't
going to be repeating it all the--all the afternoon. We don't want this Miuro fast to
be just another musical player. You know, one of the many that are in the market, you
know, the difference between our Miuro, I mean--or at least our vision of Miuro and,
you know, and other musical players they would like, with the musical player you are the
user. You are go to the musical player, "Okay. I want to play this." All right. And you listen
and that's a machine. All right? But we want to achieve not just a machine. We want to
achieve what it says in the beginning, you know, your personal DJ. Some kind of a partner
to you that can, you know, finally being somehow to some degree independent from you. I mean,
you don't have to be doing everything all the time. And of course, there's a long way
for that but, you know, the first step into this direction is the autonomous motion. Let's
suppose I'm going to put a scenario for this. Let's suppose you wake up in the morning and
you have to be in the mood for going work, right? Because you're not--if you--if you
are late, you know, your boss will get--will get angry right? So, anyway, so, you know,
you need some kind of music that wakes you up. And actually you need it near your bed.
So, you--okay. You're sleeping in your bed and then the robot comes and plays your music
to wake you up. And say, "Okay. I'm up." Later in the afternoon, you have to do some over-work
maybe after coming from the--from the company or after returning home. But you have to do
some, you know, a little coffee before, you know, to gain a little energy and so you want
a robot near you to replay another kind of music. And okay, you make your coffee and
then--and then after you finish your work maybe in a night when you're okay or even
more relaxed, then you just go and sit down and, you know, read a book and you want some
kind of soothing music, you know, maybe near the couch. So, those are for example three
different--three different favorite listening positions. And you want the robot to you--I
mean, you come home tired and you don't want to be directing your robot, moving your robot,
you just say, "Okay. Go there." And then the robot [INDISTINCT] go there and start playing
your music. So, that's the idea, I mean, it has something that helps you and not something
that, you know, bothers you. And how do we do this? I mean, first of all, inside the
robot there is a--first of all, self-localization, based on the multiple sensors cast including
the camera. I didn't show you the camera. Oh, it's over here, the camera. More like
it--I have to, you know, point it here. There's a camera over here. So, the camera is one
of the sensors that are used for self-localization. And of course, we have also sensors in the--in
the wheels for using for odometry. And I mean--so, it's kind of a multi-sensor technology. And
also, the robot has map making capabilities meaning that you put it in your room and starts
making a map of your room. So, finally, that's how it self-localized itself. I mean, in your
room because it has a map of your rooms, knows more or less where are your listening points
but the camera is very important because, you know, you know--okay. If you put it in
the floor and, you know, it keeps moving and recording how much it has gone here and there.
Okay. You can use still odometry and your map and well, okay. That can work but what
happen if you know--I don't know, one of your kids comes and, "Oh, I want to play." So,
I--you--they take it and put it over here. That's it, you know, your odometry already
has died. So, that's why, we also incorporate the camera because, you know, once you want
it to be localized again, you know, it use the camera to search where it is and finally
finds. In which point of the map is. Of course, if you take it I don't know. If you take it
to New York then that's the end of it because--yeah, don't do that. All right. So, what we want
to achieve with this is customization based on the user taste. That's what we want to
achieve. And autonomous navigation to favorite listening positions. One example of this--for
example, with remote communication when you have, you know, a mobile phone and you know,
you're outside home and then you left your kids in the--I don't know if all of you or
many of you or maybe no one of you have kids. I'm sorry. I'm saying kids I'm just, you know,
making an assumption. But anyway, let's suppose you left your kids at home and then you want
to--you say, "Oh, I wonder what they are doing?" So, you are going to send only the order and
the robot will go to where your kids are usually playing, go there, take a photograph, send
you a photograph. Everything is all right? Okay. And play some music. And for you that
doesn't have kids that can also, you know, work for your boyfriend or for your girlfriend,
you know. Just check what's happening and play some music to, you know, some--to have
some reason, you know, I just wanted to play some music for you. And one of the mechanical
design over here, basically very, very fast. I mean, you can see here that there is the
display over here. The Ipod, over here the distant sensors, and the Gyro can't be seen
because it's buried in the center. And in the--in the back view, in the rearview, there's
still the distance sensors and the camera as I told you over there. So, now, you know,
we are talking so much about the robot and you--maybe you are wondering, "Okay. But why
these guys are here?" You know, what's our relationship with this or maybe you--they
just want to say, "Hey, you know, in Japan we're doing these cool things. Oh, at least
what do we think that are cool things. Well, I'm going to be sharing with you--I mean,
telling you a little bit what we want to achieve with all of these. I have already told you
a little but basically, you know, you have a robot there which is--it had some autonomous
motion features but what do you want to achieve--I mean, what we want to achieve in the end is
my personal DJ. That's what we want to achieve. How can I say it then? A physical agent, should
I say that? Well, I don't know. I mean a creature Miuro. Maybe even a robot. We can call it
a robot. That actually helps you to have a better and more joyful lifestyle as [INDISTINCT]
would you say, you know, not something that bothers and--I mean, not something that you're,
"Oh, another one." I mean another thing that I have to learn how it works and everything.
No, I mean, it got something. It has to be something that, you know, let's you enjoy
music in a--in a different way. And for example, my personal DJ Miuro will let you enjoy your
favorite music anywhere, anytime in the place you like it, at the time you like it, the
music you like and in the moment you like. So--and how do--what was the idea here? I
already talked about the bedroom, the living room. I mean, how they moved autonomously
but finally, you know, with our technology we can build what we call a live log of, you
know, our--of the user tastes, you know, in what--and one moments he likes it, what kind
of music, what volume--I don't know. I mean, the taste of the--of the user. And then finally,
even sharing it with all your personal live logs and maybe find something like, for example--I
don't know. You like classical rock and then maybe if you like the Beatles then maybe you
will--he will find the little rolling stone and sang. I think I'm revealing my age over
here. Sorry. But anyway--so, that's basically what we want to achieve in my personal DJ.
You know, it hasn't been achieved yet. It's not achieved yet. So, to do this of course,
there is much more technology has to be applied on this robot but why are we here? I mean,
first of all we have been kindly invited to give a talk in Google. And second of all,
you know, we are aware that, you know, for example. If we will live logs because it implies
a lot of data, user taste, and you know this Miuro and the other Miuro and the other Miuro,
you know, it's a huge quantity of data. And we wanted to--I mean, we dream of the robot
being adaptable to the user tastes. So, and we know, of course, Google that--I mean, that
kind of technology that you're working for it. And so, I imagine how many things--I mean,
now we can do some autonomous motion but how many are the things can be achieved, you know,
if we put our heads together or something like this. So, you know, we built a new interface
with contents and we provide customization with the--I mean, with the user taste of how,
who, where, when, what kind of music? And with the, you know, technology for searching
and several other kinds of technology, you know, if they are put together, you know then
the personal DJ that can be enjoyed by both me and you, you know, can--even can and--you
know, can surpass anybody's dream. So, that's basically why we want to share it with you.
We wanted to provide--I mean, as I said a new interface--a physical interface in which--for
example, Google technology can, you know, work, I mean, a new way, I mean of doing things.
And well, I think that's the end of my presentation. Thank you very much and as I said, I hope
I can--I was--I was--I was able to share with you what we--what our dreams and our visions
in our company are from here to the future. Thank you very much.