Interview with TEAM OSAKA –TOMOTAKA TAKAHASHI

Tomotaka Takahashi has become famous for his Kyoto University spinoff Robo-Garage. He has developed some pretty outstanding robots which are known for their fluid animated motion and good looks. One of his most talked-about creation is FT pictured above. The following is an exclusive interview with Tomotaka Takahashi conducted by waziwazi's correspondent in Atlanta, Tim Payne.

RoboCup Atlanta, Jul 06 2007

Waziwazi- How long have you been in the robotics industry and what sparked your interests in this field?

Tomotaka- About seven years. I first graduated with a degree in sociology. Then I decide to take robotics courses, I wanted to learn about robotics, it was about 1999. Actually, I was just a little kid about six years old or seven years old and I read Astro Boy comics. I loved how the Scientist creates a robot and after reading that I wanted to be a robot scientist. After that I forgot about it, but after my first graduation, I don’t know why, but I wanted to be a robot scientist again.

Waziwazi- What do you personally take away from the RoboCup?

Tomotaka- I actually feel the evolution of robots. We first joined this competition back in 2004 and most of the robots were just standing or just slightly moving, it was just that bad. Only our robot could walk, not as well as our latest robot, but still it could walk and find the goal, but the situation was awful. Every year its getting better and better so fast beyond my imagination. I’m really inspired by other researchers.

Waziwazi- I have always been impressed with your robots movements. Pleas explain the process in which you design a robot?

Tomotaka- I try to create my robots with excess motions. Robots whose motions are too rational are unnatural. Like when you wave your hand, your shoulders may move slightly and the head might vibrate. We must add these useless movements to make the robot appear more natural and smooth.

Waziwazi- How do you craft the outer casing of your robots?

Tomotaka- I do it two different ways, one way is I craft the outer skin by myself. First I carve out a mold by knife, I add a plastic plate that I heated with a stove to make it softer. I then press it to the mold and use a vacuum cleaner to suck it to the shape of the mold. That is how I make 3D parts.

The other way is we just use CAD and a rapid prototyping machine. Then we put some glue on it because parts from rapid prototyping are not that strong, so we add material to reinforce it.

Waziwazi- What kind of servos do you prefer to use and why?

Tomotaka- I like servos to be small, powerful and tough with metal gears. I like small servos because I like to build small robots. When they get too big they are hard to handle and also if robots are just as big a human beings, people expect the robot to be just as smart as a human or as good as a human, but when it is small we don’t expect as much. Right now I prefer to build smaller robots.

Waziwazi- What strategy do you use while programming your robot for a match?

Tomotaka- This year we wanted our robots to move like Aibo. The robots in the Aibo league can move much better than the robots in the humanoid league. What is strong about Aibo is that it can go everywhere. It is partly because Aibo has four legs, but we want to make our robots faster, more stable and turn anywhere without stopping.

Waziwazi- Ultimately what separates your robots from your competitors?

Tomotaka- I think hardware is right now the most important thing. First you have to have good hardware and right now ours is the best. Some of the other teams even have better software, but their hardware is not good enough. With bipedal robots it is hard to create good hardware because the robot has to carry the motors, computers, and batteries inside, so we have to design the robot as compact as possible and also easy to fix. That is our strong point.

Waziwazi- What has been your greatest challenge in the RoboCup?

Tomotaka- First, we want to win the RoboCup competition every year, plus we want to show people the improvements of our robots, also show the future possibilities of robots. So that is why we always create new robots every year.

Waziwazi- Where would you like to see Humanoid Robots in 5 years?

Tomotaka- In five years, I think some robots will work with us. In the first phase of practical robots they will be more for communication or information, not physical labor. Maybe in the next five years robots will start living with us and then handling tasks like communication. Maybe the robot will connect to other small appliances, the home security, the internet. The robot will be able to talk to us and then the robot will be able to communicate with other machines.

Waziwazi- What do you think will be Robots greatest contribution to mankind?

Tomotaka- Communication is one of the biggest features offered by robots. We have a lot of machines that can actually talk, but we do not want to reply to a refrigerator. A robot has a body or is shaped like an animal and we treat them as being creatures, which opens communication, which is its biggest feature.

Waziwazi- Why do you think the Robotics industry is more popular in Eastern countries than in Western countries particularly in Japan and South Korea?

Tomotaka- One is our technology, we are good at precision machinery and robots require this kind of technology. The other is cultural. We have a pop-culture; we have an idea that robots will be future companions for us. In western culture we see in Hollywood movies, robots are often too human or too machine like. We kind of have an intermediate idea of robots, a little bit of machine and a little bit of human, not too smart so to take over the world, but not too dumb, we have great balance. Not only researchers or specialist, but also all of the future consumers of robots share the same idea of robots as companions.

Waziwazi- As Robots are developed further and are able to take on more tasks that were previously performed by humans, how will that influence a society whose structure is based on a working class hierarchy?

Tomotaka- Actually this kind of concern started in the 18th or 19th century when the steam engine was invented. Our lifestyle is changing and some people may have loss their jobs with the creation of the steam engine, but it also created more jobs. So the robot might affect some jobs and workers, but at the same time they create jobs. It is a typical misunderstanding about new technology, so we don’t have to worry about that.