Ballroom dancing is no longer just for the romantic. Japanese researchers have developed a robot capable of taking to the floor by predicting how its human partner will move.
The Partner Ballroom Dance Robot -- or PBDR in robot talk -- has a woman's face, a sensor around its waist and can move in all directions on its three wheels hidden underneath an evening gown.
As its partner takes steps, the robot analyzes his movements and figures out how to accompany him with its shoulders, elbows, waist and neck.
PHOTO: AFP
But for those who would be caught up in the moment, PBDR has clear robotic traits. It comes in two colors -- shiny blue and bright red -- pointy ears like Mickey Mouse and, despite its classic attire, a plastic exterior.
The robot is 165cm tall and weighs 100kg, with a male version under development.
The robot was unveiled last week in Chino in central Nagano province after six years of research by a team led by Kazuhiro Kosuge, professor of the Department of Bioengineering and Robotics at state-run Tohoku University.
He acknowledged the robot did not yet have movements as sharp or as wide to match the dancing steps of humans. But PBDR is a step in another direction -- developing a robot that can care for the elderly.
Kosuge said good caregivers needed, like PBDR, to be able to guess what the elderly want them to do using the limited information available.
"It may be difficult to take care of bed-ridden people, but caregivers for people in need of help less than that would be efficient if they can know beforehand what support those people want," Kosuge said.
"Machines or robots would be able to preempt trouble if they can find what their partners want out from what is heard and seen," he said.
He said, however, that there was still a long way to go until robots will be reliable enough to perform important tasks such as holding a hand out before an elderly person stumbles.
Demand for caregivers is on the rise in Japan.
A government report last week showed the elderly made up a record 19.5 percent of Japan's population last year and that the ratio will grow rapidly, going past 35 percent in 2050, as fewer younger Japanese choose to start families.
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