Cocorobo an autonomous intelligent vacuum cleaner robot that communicates with its owner

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

DigInfoTV presented Sharp which has developed a vacuum cleaning robot called Cocorobo, which uses the Cocoro Engine artificial intelligence capability. This product is the first in a planned series of robot appliances which can communicate with people.

Cocorobo features a speech recognition engine developed by Raytron, so it can be controlled by voice, as well as using its buttons or the remote control. It has also been given the ability to say simple greetings, with the idea being that a vacuum cleaner can communicate like a pet robot.

"For example, if you use Cocorobo every day, or speak to it every day, it gets in a good mood. Depending on how it feels, its words and movements vary a lot, so you can gain a feeling of closeness with it. Regarding Cocorobo's learning capability, we're planning upgrades that will make it evolve rapidly."

Cocorobo also has a 1.3-megapixel camera, a LED light, and wireless LAN connectivity. This enables the user to check the state of a room remotely, with apps available for both Android and iOS.

"By connecting to it over the internet with your smartphone, you can use the observation capabilities. Cocorobo moves 50 cm away from its charging stand, and then takes four photos at 90 degree intervals, covering 360 degrees. You can check these with your smartphone. You can also use the smartphone like a radio controller, to move Cocorobo forward or rotate it while watching the streaming video. If you set Cocorobo to automatic, you can also keep watching it move."

As a vacuum cleaner, Cocorobo has a Power Vacuum System developed by Sharp. This sweeps up dirt with side brushes, catches it with a rotating brush, and sucks it in with a turbo fan running at 14,000 rpm. In this way, Cocorobo catches minute particles of dirt trapped in flooring. This makes it especially suited to Japanese living environments, where flooring is very common.

"Cocorobo now avoids obstacles by using ultrasound sensors, in an echolocation system. There are three sensors, on the front and 45 degrees to either side. With infrared sensors, transparent glass and black furniture can't be recognized, so Cocorobo would bump into them. But with ultrasound sensors, it recognizes those items from the reflected sound waves, so it isn't prone to bumping into things."

Cocorobo uses iron phosphate lithium batteries, which don't tend to suffer from memory effects. This gives it a battery life of about three years or 1,200 charges.

Cocorobo is to be released in early June. The full featured version, the RX-V100, will be priced around US$1,600 (130,000 yen), and the basic version without a camera, the RX-V80, will be around US$1,100 (90,000 yen).

"We'd like robot appliances based on Cocoro Engine to become widespread. This robot vacuum cleaner is one aspect of that, and we're considering new developments for products in the second and third phases."

*by andreascy*

Sharp Begins Production of World’s First LCD Panels Incorporating IGZO Oxide Semiconductors

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Have a good day to everyone, follow us we have big informations very soon.

In March 2012 at Kameyama Plant No. 2, Sharp began producing the world’s first high-performance LCD panels incorporating IGZO oxide semiconductors. 

Sharp is expanding production scale through April to meet market demand. 

Kameyama Plant No. 2 first started operations in August 2006, manufacturing highly advanced LCD panels for TVs. 

Production systems have subsequently been reorganized to focus on producing small- and medium-sized LCD panels for the world’s rapidly growing smartphone and tablet terminal markets.

Employing advanced IGZO oxide semiconductors enables Sharp to produce LCDs with smaller thin-film transistors and increased pixel transparency, thus allowing for lower energy consumption. 

In addition, proprietary UV2A*3 photo-alignment technology employed in Sharp’s AQUOS LCD TVs enables these displays to achieve high image quality.

Sharp will encourage the application of its new high-resolution LCD panels to high-definition notebook PCs and LCD monitors-which are both expected to grow in demand-as well as to mobile devices. Sharp will also contribute to creating markets for attractive new products.

Sample specifications of LCD Panels incorporating IGZO:

Read more on PCWorld and MacRumors

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*by andreascy*

Sharp HEMS: Next Generation Home Energy Visualization System

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Sharp is developing a next generation Home Energy Management System to manage and control consumer electronics (01/03/2012 on PV EXPO). 

The system provides a visualization of the amount of power consumed by devices individually and the home as a whole, and each device can be controlled via a tablet or smartphone.

Sharp plans to release the Wi-Fi module used in this concept demonstration later in the year. 

"As you can see on the wall, there's a white box plugged into the socket, which measures power consumption. For example, over there, the TV's power consumption is being measured, and the measured data is sent by wireless connection to this tablet, so you can see how many watts the TV is using. This is the system we've developed, and we're now working on a commercial version."

The commercial version of this system will include five units and a router as a set, and the system will support up to 30 units simultaneously.

"This demonstration includes not just visualization, but also control. For example, if you select "LED" like this, you can adjust the tone and brightness of the LED lighting. At the same time you can also check on the tablet how the adjustment changes the power consumption."

As a part of the concept demonstration, the devices controlled include a Sharp TV, air-conditioner and refrigerator as well as the LED lighting. To actually utilize this system, each device needs to have a built-in receiver for remote control commands.

"Thinking about this from a customers perspective, we'd definitely like this to be able to control products made by manufacturers other than Sharp. We're currently discussing the unification of control protocols with the Government. It'll take another one or two years, but we think it will become possible to use, for example, a Sharp tablet to control products from other manufacturers."

This system can also be used to manage total energy consumption in the home, by connecting it to solar generation systems and electric vehicles as well.

Great video! I'm surprized they didn't use powerline as well. I guess Wi-Fi supports more devices. That idea would take decades before it can accomodate for a large population. At least, proof of concept is there, because that's what's most important. 

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*by andreascy*