12 Jobs We’re Losing to Robots
A mock intruder, tangled in a net that was launched by the remote-controlled security robot T-34, lies on the floor while posing beside the robot during a photo opportunity in Tokyo. T-34 users can see live images from the robot's camera and control the robot using a mobile phone. The robot, which has sensors that react to body heat and sound, can launch a net against an intruder by remote-control during its surveillance.
© Kim Kyung Hoon / Reuters
A robot named "Robovie-II", developed by Japanese robotics research institution ATR, moves around at a grocery store during a shopping assisting experiment by utilizing the robot in an ubiquitous network technology platform in Kyoto, western Japan. The robot greets the shopper at the entrance of the store, follows him to the shelves while holding a grocery basket and reminds him of the items on a shopping list, which the shopper would have entered beforehand in a specialized mobile device. The experiment is aimed to gather data in order to provide livelihood support for the elderly by using robots and network technologies, ATR's researcher Satoshi Koizumi said.
© Yuriko Nakao / Reuters
The Wall-Ye prototype, a robot designed to prune vines, is seen in the Pouilly Fuisse vineyard during a press presentation near Macon. The 50 by 60 centimetre robot, with four wheels and two metal arms, has six web cameras and a GPS and can roll between grapevines, test the soil and check the grapes. With a little more training, Wall-Ye will be able to prune up to 600 vines per day, says his inventor, French engineer Christophe Millot, who has been working on the project for the past three years.
© Robert Pratta / Reuters
A humanoid robot named "I-Fairy" (C) acts as a witness at the wedding ceremony between Tomohiro Shibata (L) and Satoko Inoue in Tokyo. The couple decided to use the robot, which conducted the ceremony with its audio functions, from Inoue's company to perform the witness' duties as they first met due to common work interest related to robots.
© Yuriko Nakao / Reuters
Humanoid robots dressed in the colours of Germany's and Brazil's national soccer team jerseys hold the official 2014 World Cup soccer ball during a photo opportunity at the Institute for Computer Science at the University of Bonn in Bonn. The humanoid robots, which are developed by the University of Bonn's "NimbRo" team and company Igus GmbH, competed at the annual 2014 world robotic's championship "RoboCup" in July.
© Ina Fassbender / Reuters
A flying sushi service tray known as the "itray", created using miniature remote-controlled helicopter rotor blades, is demonstrated by staff at a "Yo! Sushi" restaurant in London.
© Neil Hall / Reuters
Humanoid robot of British company RoboThespian "blushes" during the opening ceremony of the Hanover technology fair Cebit, where Britain is this year's partner country.
© Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters
A robot musician performs during the "Robot Ball" scientific exhibition in Moscow.
© Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters
SoftBank Corp. Chief Executive Masayoshi Son (R) presents the company's human-like robots named 'pepper' during a news conference in Urayasu, east of Tokyo. Japan's SoftBank Corp unveiled the human-like robots which it will use to staff its cellphone stores and personal usage at a home, in a move aimed at expanding the mobile phone and Internet conglomerate's technological reach. Son announced the plan at a news conference on Thursday, the robot will go on sale to public in Japan from February 2015, which price is about 198,000 yen. Softbank will use technologies developed by French robotics company Aldebaran, in which it took a stake in 2012.
© Issei Kato / Reuters
Robots deliver dishes to customers at a Robot Restaurant in Harbin, Heilongjiang province. Opened in June 2012, the restaurant has gained fame in using a total of 20 robots, which range in heights of 1.3-1.6 metres (4.27-5.25 ft), to cook meals and deliver dishes. The robots can work continuously for five hours after a two-hour charge, and are able to display over 10 expressions on their faces and say basic welcoming sentences to customers, local media reported.
© Sheng Li / Reuters
Humanoid communication robot Kirobo talks to Fuminori Kataoka, project general manager in the Product Planning Group of Toyota Motor Corp, during its unveiling in Tokyo. Dentsu Inc, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo, Robo Garage and Toyota announced that their jointly developed robot astronaut, called Kirobo, will be aboard the Kounotori 4 cargo spacecraft scheduled for launch from the Tanegashima Space Center to the International Space Station (ISS) on August 4, 2013, according to the organiser.
© Toru Hanai / Reuters
The anthropomorphic robot named hitchBOT sits on the shoulder of Highway 102 to begin its 6000 kilometer cross country journey outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 27, 2014. The hitch hiking robot is part of a social experiment to see if drivers will pick up and drop off the robot in one piece to an art gallery in Victoria, British Columbia.
© Paul Darrow / Reuters