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    Japanese researchers develop robot that lets you sit on a friend's shoulder

    Japanese researchers develop robot that lets you sit on a friend's shoulder

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    Researchers at Japan's Yamagata University are developing a telepresence robot that sits on your shoulder and acts as an avatar for a friend's speech and actions.

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    MH-2 Shoulder Robot 1122x801
    MH-2 Shoulder Robot 1122x801

    Researchers at Japan's Yamagata University are developing a telepresence robot that sits on your shoulder and acts as an avatar for a friend's speech and actions. The MH-2, or "miniature humanoid" robot, will perch on your shoulder and allow you to share an experience with a friend, much like Google's Project Glass video demonstrates with a sunset. Unlike Google's 2D glasses display though, the MH-2 shares what you see with another person, and allows them to react as if they were there with you: they wear a 360-degree immersive 3D display to see everything the MH-2 sees, and a motion capture device allows the robot to share their reaction with you.

    The robot has 20 degrees of freedom throughout its arms, head, and body, and can simulate realistic breathing (which might be a bit creepy to see out of the corner of your eye). This complexity has a trade-off – the robot-wearer needs a large backpack of 22 actuators to control the robot's movements. The MH-2 was just introduced this month at the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, but no word on when we'll see people walking around with angry ex-girlfriends berating them from a cozy shoulder seat.