15 years ago they couldn’t get them to walk, now they are rollerskating. Amazing video.

Many of the world’s leading robotics experts gathered in the picturesque city of Sendai, Japan, this week to discuss their latest research efforts at the 2004 Intelligent Robotics and Systems (IROS) conference.

As well as hundreds of scientific papers and workshops, attendees enjoyed demonstrations from some of the latest entertainment bots Japan has to offer.

These include Sony’s miniature humanoid, QRIO, which performed some impressive tricks for onlookers. The smooth-moving robot automatically navigated an assault course, danced, and even roller-skated (3.07 MB Windows Media) for the crowds.

Another humanoid robot on display was Fujitsu’s HOAP-2, a less sophisticated but nonetheless impressive specimen that has proven very popular with robotics enthusiasts in Japan. It can be programmed using a regular PC and was demonstrated performing traditional Japanese sumo-wrestling (1.99 MB Windows Media) moves.

Rollerskating Robot.


More here.