Japanese Humanoid Robot to Work in Rain

Via Middle East Times -

TOKYO -- Japan is a step closer to having an ideal worker who will not complain in torrential rain or on slippery floors as a company unveiled a next-generation humanoid Wednesday.

Kawada Industries' HRP-3 Promet Mk-II, a 160-centimeter-tall (five feet, four inches) humanoid, walked on a slippery floor scattered with sand and held out its arms under a shower before media cameras.

"We have made a leap toward creating a humanoid that works in a real environment," the firm said in a joint statement with Kawasaki Heavy Industries and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

The white robot, which wears a visor and has a passing resemblance to a Star Wars Imperial Stormtrooper, also used a screwdriver with its right hand while leaning forward on its left arm, balancing itself just like a human would.

The robot weighs 68 kilograms (149 pounds) including the battery.

"Our country is rapidly aging and it is an urgent task to develop robots that can perform tasks only done by humans now," the statement said. "If a humanoid can substitute human functions, the entire social cost would be reduced," it said.