Robot competition, "The 7th Wandahoo Robot Carnival" sponsored by Mr. Ishikawa was carried out at Telecom Center the 21st Floor, Tokyo on July 19th, 2009.
Thirty-eight robots joined the competition. Four type games, Dash 2000 (2 m foot race), Bottle Traction (pushing or pulling a basket with 500 or 1000 ml bottles for 2 m within 1 min; points are multiplication of number of bottles and distance carried), Dice Shot (dice soccer; points are depended on the spots of dice shot for 150 sec) and Cubs (team game of 3 robots each; carrying cubs to own territory for 2 min) were carried out.
Each robot got points from each game. In the case of team game, winner team robots got points. Four robots gotten much points had a final tournament of robot fight. The rest 34 robots had ramble fights.
The competition started at 13:00. The winner was Sarga (Igaa). The 2nd place was Daigakku (Akitsuka), the 3rd place was Manboo (Tokyo University of Science, Robot Creator), and the 4th place was Zerfer (ShirakazeM). The winner of ramble fights was Alumiy (Omata). And Prot-Zaurer (Kenta) got the right to join the 1st JSRC (Japan Standard Class Robot Community) Championship in Nagoya on October, 2009.
Videos are as follows:
Dash 2000 (2 m foot race) Sarga vs Doka Harumi
Dash 2000 (2 m foot race) Marin vs Mechakogy
Dash 2000 (2 m foot race) Kohana vs Eorz
Bottle Traction (carrying a basket with bottles) Kinopy vs Kabura
Dice Shot (dice soccer) Koyuki vs Kohana
Cubs (Getting cubs, team game) Sarga team vs Daigakku team
The 3rd RBO-ONE SOCCER was carried out at Panasonic Center in Tokyo on July 18th and 19th, 2009. The 1st Soccer Game of ROBO-ONE was carried out as ROBO-ONE Special CUP on June 30th and July 1st in 2007. Then every 1 year holds games.
There is a big difference between ROBO-ONE SOCCER and KONDO CUP soccer. The soccer field of ROBO-ONE SOCCER is made from a lot of joint carpet (30 cm x 30 cm ). Therefore, it is necessary to make motions different from those on the smooth field of KONDO CUP. Another big difference was the number of playing robots. Four robots played in the ROBO-ONE SOCCER different from 3 robots in the KONDOU CUP. Therefore, one team had to consist of 4 robots at least, most of teams consisted of 5 robots including a substitute robot.
Seven teams, as Trinity, Espresso-Pacchigi, Hamamatsu Technical High School, RFC Bamboo☆Bridge, Shisenkai, Nagaranger Kantou Branch and RFC Aichi attended the game. Espresso-Pacchigi team was an international team, consisted of English, Japanese and Korean.
The 1st preliminary league was carried out on July 18th and the 2nd preliminary league was on July 19th. Each top two teams of preliminary leagues had a final tournament on July 19th. The winner was Trinity, the 2nd place was Espresso-Pacchigi and the 3rd place was Shisenkai.
The 1st preliminary league had 21 games. Several games of the 1st preliminary league videos are as follows:
The 3rd game, RFC Aichi vs TRINITY
The 10th game, NAGARENGER KANTOU BRANCH vs TRINITY
The 13th game, KANTOU BRANCH vs RFC Bamboo Bridge
The 15th game, RFC Aichi vs Espresso Pacchigi
The 16th game, Kantou Branch vs Hamamatsu Technical High School
Mr. Nakamura, president of Himeji Soft Works, announced JO-ZERO, a new robot kit, will be put on the market on July 15th, 2009． The presentation was carried out at RT, a robot shop in Akihabara, Tokyo on July 5th , 2009.
Himeji Soft Works is well-known as a robot control board developer, HSWB series and Motion Processor series, and the president Mr. Nakamura is also famous for a robot builder making unique and excellent robots as a transforming robot, HSWR07 and a female type robot, LILIA .
JO-ZERO has been developed for a biped robot kit with 3 purposes, `Cool`, `Speed` and `Human-like`. As for `Cool`, Mr Mitsuru Kamiya, one of the most famous robot comic writers well-known as `Purares-Sanshiro` and `Act ON`, designed the head part of JO-ZERO. He advised not only on the head part but also robot body design, color and naming. These advises made JO-ZERO with cool form and cool color.
As for the 2nd purpose, `Speed`, JO-ZERO is using RS304MD from Futaba Corporation as the actuator which is also used in G-ROBOT GR001 and G-Dog from H.I.P. Japan. The torque of RS403MD is 5kg･cm. It is necessary for rapid moving to make the body weight light. The weight of JO-ZERO is 800 g without battery, and about 860 g with battery which is about half those of KHR-2HV/3HV.
As for the 3rd purpose, `Human-like`, JO-ZERO has 20 axes which make the robot move more human-like than KHR-2HV or KHR-3HV with 17 axes. G-ROBOT GR001 also has 20 axes. However there is a big difference between JO-ZERO and GR001 in the position of axis. JO-ZERO does not have neck and leg roll axes but has hand roll axes and a body pitch axis. These characteristic axis positions make the JO-ZERO movement as `Human-like`.
The battery is using PR-4S780P, which is also used in G-ROBOT GR001 and G-Dog, and is well-known as a safe lithium polymer battery. Price is excluded the battery.
The control board is HSWB-03F, a new one developed for JO-ZERO. The software for HSWB-03F is JOZ Controller which is also newly developed. JOZ has a motion generating function which makes a walking motion of JO-ZERO automatically on PC. As you know, it is the most difficult to make walking motions of biped robot. JOZ Controller makes it easy.
The shipment is scheduled on July 15th, 2009 from Himeji Soft Works or other robot shops. STR-ZERO, the base model, will also put on the market at the same time. STR-ZERO has 17 axes without hand roll axes, a body pitch axis and head part. The weight is about 680g without battery.
As the weight of JO-ZERO is much lighter than those of KHR-2HV/3HV, JO-ZERO seems to be not suitable for robot fight except for under 1 kg class (UK1). Of course, JO-ZERO is enough power in the UK1. It seems to be suitable for robot builder who would like to make robot express behavior of human.
Specifications are as follows:
Length: 300(H) ×170(W) ×100(D)mm
Weight: 800g (without battery)
Axis: 20 (arm 8, body2, foot 10)
Servo: RS304MD （torque 5kg･cm）
CPU: HSWB-03F with 3 analog terminal for gyro, 3 analog and 3 digital terminals
Software: JOZ Controller
Battery: PR-4S780P, a lithium polymer battery from Futaba Corporation (excluding the kit)
KONDO KAGAKU CO. LTD. announced KHR-3HV, a new model will be put on the market in August 2009． The presentation was carried out at the 5th KHR Anniversary in ASAKUSA ROX3 (Tokyo) on June 13th 2009.
KONDO is the leading company of hobby robot and the new robot is the third product of KONDO. The first hobby robot, KHR-1 was developed by KONDO and put on the market in June 2004. The second one, KHR-2HV was put on the market in June 2006. RCB-3HV, the control board developed for KHR-2HV, has been popular among robot builder in Japan.
The shipment scheduled in August 2009 from KONDO or other robot shops. Some parts of KHR-3HV including the control board, RCB-4HV will be also put on the market same schedule.
The characteristics of a new model are as follows:
1) Using a high torque servo, KRS-2552HV (14 kg/cm) which was newly developed for KHR-3HV using serial control system. The torque is 1.4 fold of `KRS-788HV used in KHR-2HV makes the robot jump as you see in the presentation video.
2) The axis, number of using servo motor including head, is 17 ( head 1, arm 6, foot 10 ). User of the KHR-3HV could power up the robot easily by exchanging the empty servo case attached the body to the real servo, KRS-2552HV. User could add 5 servos for 2 leg rolling axis, 1 body rolling axis and 2 arm rolling axis.
3) The control board, RCB-4HV was newly developed for KHR-3HV, could regulate the serial connected servo motors. Therefore, the wiring is very simple.
Specifications are as follows:
Length: 401.05(H)×194.4(W)×129(D)mm
Weight: 1.5kg
Axis: 17 (head 1, arm 6, foot 10)
Servo: KRS-2552HV x17
CPU: RCB-4HV
Motion editor: Heart&Heart4
Battery: 10.8V 800mAh-Ni-H with express battery charger
OS: Windows XP/Vista
Interface: USB1.1 /2.0
Robot competition, "The 5nd KHR Anniversary" sponsored by KONDO KAGAKU LTD was carried out in ASAKUSA ROX3 on June 13-14th, 2009.
The first biped hobby robot developed by KONDO, KHR 1 was put on the market in June 2004. The 1st KHR Anniversary was carried out in June 2005. The KHR Anniversary has been planning for KHR user, the major regulation of competition is using of KHR based robots. The competitions carried out on June 13th were KHR Fight, Autonomous KHR Fight, Autonomous Beach Flag, Autonomous Beach Flag Jr, and carried out on June 14th was the 16th KONDO CUP ( soccer ).
KHR Fight, the main event of the 5th KHR Anniversary was joined 32 robots. The winner was Superdigar by Hironocchi and the second place was Seiga by Igaa. The final match video, Superdiggar vs Seiga, is as follows;
KHR Autonomous Fight was joined 3 robots. The winner was Isokowalker2-T by Obana and the second place was ANV-3 by SLAN. The final match video, Isokowalker vs ANV-3, is as follows;
Autonomous Beach Flag had student class and expert class. The winner of student class was 0000 by Nihonnkougakuinn Hachioujischool, the second place was Tama2 by Tamatsukuri High School. The winner of expert class was Isokowalker2 by Obana, the second place was Tama2 by Tamatsukuri Kougyo. The best time was 22.91 second by Isokowalker2. The final match video is as follows;
The 16th KONDO CUP had KHR class and open class. The winner team of the KHR class was Nihonkougakuin Hachiouji scholl. The second place was Kanto-branch team. The winner team of open class was Trinity, the second place was Strikers☆Stars.
I have been enjoying biped robot since 2004, when KHR-1 was put on the market, and collecting information of hobby robots. I would like to upload information about hobby robots in Japan for the hobbyists of biped robot all over the world. As my ability for uploading is limitted, I will introduce just news of product, kit or parts and information of competition etc. with picutures or videos.
Robot competition, "The 7th Wandahoo Robot Carnival" sponsored by Mr. Ishikawa was carried out at Telecom Center the 21st Floor, Tokyo on July 19th, 2009.
The competition started at 13:00. The winner was Sarga (Igaa). The 2nd place was Daigakku (Akitsuka), the 3rd place was Manboo (Tokyo University of Science, Robot Creator), and the 4th place was Zerfer (ShirakazeM). The winner of ramble fights was Alumiy (Omata). And Prot-Zaurer (Kenta) got the right to join the 1st JSRC (Japan Standard Class Robot Community) Championship in Nagoya on October, 2009.
