Motohiro Nakamura, the creator of such innovative robots such as the WR-07 transformer and founder of Himeji Soft Works, has once again designed something that leaps above current standards. At first glance, the JO-ZERO robot doesn’t look like something that new. The impressive display, however, starts when it begins moving.

As one can see from the video at the end of this post, the robot has a great deal of freedom in movement, and very impressive flexibility and dexterity. JO-ZERO can duck or climb over obstacles without a problem, and the extra joins in its arms and back allow it a wider rotational range. With these features, it can twist and turn, much like a human gymnast.

To operate the robot, a user only has to define its parameters on a remote control, instead of mapping out each and every motion it has to do to perform an action, like walking. This also makes it much easier to modify and edit its movements. Basically, JO-ZERO is very adaptable and does a lot of the work on its own.

The video is from the International Robot Exhibition (IREX) 2009 where the robot was on display. It claims JO-ZERO was “developed to be stylish, speedy and human-like”, and it definitely has the first two down. It’s maybe a bit too nimble to be human-like, but that’s not exactly a fault. The rescue demonstration it gives is especially impressive, although perhaps not so difficult, since the robot only weighs 800 grams. It’s light-weight also makes it hard to break if it falls over or bumps into something. It really would be amazing to see a larger, human-like version of it, where it can be used to save and help real people.

The privilege of owning JO-ZERO is currently priced at 126 000 Yen, or 1,375 US dollars which is half the price of the Bioloid robot kit.

[source DigInfo]