We’ve got some new footage of the HRP-3 Promet Mk-II made by Kawada Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). Curiously, mainstream media has decided it’s a bit precious and hilarious that this robot is waterproof, but what “waterproof” actually means is it can operate heavy machinery in a serious downpour, which is more than many humans can do. Video after the jump, and a bunch of shots and videos of the HRP-3 Promet Mk-II here. [GT]

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“Excuse me,” you say to your mobile, “I have to go, because a puffy white plastic cloud just sailed up and is singing to me.” The Blubber Bot cleaved unto you, would-be-phoner, because it loves being part of high-tech communications. Blubber Bots are sociable and cheery, a body of networked sculptures that interact with their environment, people and each other and evolve the longer they live. You can foster your own Blubber Bot to know the joy of flying-robot-cloud-rearing. $100. [GT]

Blubber Bots (via Engadget)

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Rocobo is the next cute interactive pet from Japan. Rocobo see, Rocobo do, Rocobo knows all about you. If you’re mean, it will shake its body and flap its arms. If you’re nice to it, it will sing a song to you, tell your fortune, smile on its LCD screen or flap its ears. It will go on sale next August for ¥ 1130. Supposedly it won’t be available outside Japan, but if you find Rocobo, and make him love you, he’ll find a way to be with you. [GT]

Rocobo (via 3yen)

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The HRP-3 Promet Mk-II is the result of a 5-year joint effort by Kawada Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) to develop a humanoid robot with sufficient skills to enter the workforce (unlike most college graduates). The 1.6 meter tall, 68 kilo robot is made of tougher hardware to enable it to function in tough enviroments. Watch it in action after the jump. [GT]

HRP-3 Promet Mk-II blue-collar robot

Congressman Mike Doyle, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, and Congressman Zack Wamp, a Republican from Tennessee, have formed a bi-partisan Congressional Caucus on Robotics. “Robots are now being used well beyond traditional industrial automation applications like assembling automobiles,” said Doyle. “Today, they are also being used to defend our nation, perform surgery, fill prescriptions, deliver supplies and materials, and even as tools to educate our children, so it is important that we create a forum by which Congress can familiarize itself with the impact this first great technology of the 21st century is likely to have on the lives of all Americans.”

Able to lift 1000 kilos and having a reach of 3.2 meters, the KUKA Robotics ‘Titan’ is billed as the world’s strongest robot, and has the place in the Guinness Book of Records to prove it. It has nine motors, “which together deliver the power of a mid-sized car”, and a work envelope of 78 cubic meters. Ships in the second half of January 2007. [GT]

“titan”: the world’s strongest robot (via Gizmag)

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