www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/06/07/robots.ballroom -> www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/06/07/robots.ballroom/
The world's first ballroom-dancing robot is set to take to the floor for its first public performance this week at the World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan. Developed by scientists at Tokhuro University, the Partner Ballroom Dance Robot (PBDR) is able to predict the steps of a human partner based on b ody movement and react accordingly on its three wheels. The 165 meter robot has a female face, wears a ballgown and comes in bri ght pink and pastel blue plastic. Although it can match the movements of a human partner's upper body, Prof essor Kazuhiro Kosuge, who led the team behind PBDR, said it could not y et perform dance steps. The machine forms part of the 10-day Prototype Robot Exhibition, starting June 9, which gives robotics companies and academic departments the cha nce to showcase their visions of a future in which robots are a part of everyday life. A model home from 2020 includes machines designed to do the housekeeping and to provide company to elderly people or children, while other exhibi tions showcase robots performing tasks ranging from microsurgery to slug ging baseballs. Kosuge said that robots such as PBDR were a step towards developing respo nsive robots that could provide care for the sick and elderly. "Machines or robots would be able to pre-empt trouble if they can find wh at their partners want from them what is heard and seen," he told AFP. But Kosuge said roboticists were still a long way from building machines capable of providing reliable assistance to the elderly. Robotics expert Henrik Lund told the New Scientist magazine that there wa s a burgeoning market for home-based helper robots in Japan, where it is predicted that more than 35 percent of the population will be over 65 b y 2050.
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