Hi, guys! Philip English from RoboPhil.com and today we have an interview with Yuki Nakagawa, who are telling us about their robots.

Philip English: Hi guys, it’s Philip English here again. We’re at another stand and we are having a look at what appears to be a 3D-printed robot with some quite smart technology for the home. I’ve got a lady here who’s going to introduce herself and give us an overview of what the robot’s all about. Please, can you introduce yourself?

Yuki Nakagawa: Yeah. My name is Yuki Nakagawa, CEO with this company, RT Corporation. We develop for the research and student robot education robots.

Philip English: Right, so this robot is a mixture of a few different projects. So you have the students that give you a hand from the university, you have the university. So from what I understand, it’s completely 3D printed. Is that right?

Yuki Nakagawa: Yeah, this robot, named Sciurus 17, that is 3D-printed humanoid robot because he is for the research. And if students want to revise on a model, we give them a 3D model for 3D printers and they can do it.

Philip English: Yeah. Well, I suppose if it’s 3D, it’s a lot cheaper to produce, and it’s a lot easier to produce. I mean, if a student wanted to make a robot then, how long would it take them to make? Would it be quite a while?

Yuki Nakagawa: It’s a difficult question. We developed for this robot for six months.

Philip English: Right, okay.

Yuki Nakagawa: All included, a vision system and how to move the motions like that.

Philip English: Right, I see, I see. And then I suppose, what’s the problem that the robot solves? I mean, the reason why it’s been created. What’s the main problem that the robot solves?

Yuki Nakagawa: For the research.

Philip English: For the research?

Yuki Nakagawa: Yeah, yeah.

Philip English: But then eventually you’re looking to get it to be like a home robot?

Yuki Nakagawa: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Philip English: Is that the plan?

Yuki Nakagawa: Yeah, a home robot or a collaborative robot.

Philip English: Right, okay, okay. So at the moment it’s a research project, but you’re looking to develop it to become more of a commercial product. Is that right?

Yuki Nakagawa: It’s not for the consumer robot because we developed this robot for the research and as they made a future.

Philip English: Right. Okay. Okay. I understand. I understand. Take me through how it works then. It uses, obviously, the camera here to see the obstacle, to pick it up, and then put it in the box?

Yuki Nakagawa: Yes.

Philip English: Yeah. Okay, and then what’s this camera that you’ve got here?

Yuki Nakagawa: That camera is [inaudible 00:02:34] and that camera watches cutlery or the dishes, to distinguish which is which, and the robot had hands, [inaudible 00:02:43] normal hands, but it can handle a spoon, cup, and dishes in the same hands. And usually, industrial robots changes on the hands if there’s each different object.

Philip English: Right, I see. I see. So the advantages of this one is that you wouldn’t change the hand for a different object. It can pick up multiple different objects.

Yuki Nakagawa: Yeah, exactly.

Philip English: Right. Right.

Yuki Nakagawa: Because the vision distinguish what by what.

Philip English: Right, and then do you have to teach the robot what it’s picking up? Do you have to say, “Okay, that’s a cup, that’s a bowl,” and then it understands and then it can pick each one?

Yuki Nakagawa: Yeah, depending on the AI, we can do such a way.

Philip English: Okay. I can definitely see the advantage and I can see the progression. It’s probably because I put the cup there, funny, but I’m really impressed with the way, obviously, that all this has been built. So this is, obviously, being built up in 3D, and then all of their mechanics are there. So what’s the future step? What’s the next step for you guys?

Yuki Nakagawa: Next step? This robot next step is intelligent.

Philip English: Intelligent?

Yuki Nakagawa: Yeah.

Philip English: Okay. Is that more of a software thing?

RT Corporation: https://rt-net.jp/company-page/?lang=en

RT Corporation YouTube: https://youtu.be/Gps75U291v0

Philip English: https://philipenglish.com

Sponsor – Robot Center: https://www.robotcenter.co.uk