Amazing New Products, Processes Coming on Line in Japan!

As is well-know, many insects can perform incredible feats of running, jumping and lifting that put human beings to shame when measured by their comparative sizes, resulting in Japan’s robot engineers taking cues from insects in their new robot designs.      This still relatively new science of taking inspiration from insects is known as biomimetics, but it goes as far back as Leonardo Da Vinci and his flying machine design. The big difference now is that scientists can draw on a wealth of technology to create robots that mimic the behavior of insects in strength and speed,      Associate Professor Keisuke Morishima at the Tokyo University of Agriculture has gone beyond just imitating insects in his robot creations. He has merged the metal arms and legs of robots with actual insect muscle tissue that work without any outside source of energy for up to three months—like a cyborg without an energy cell.      Prof. Morishima is working on ways of integrating insect muscle tissue into other metallic devices that would result in a completely new kind of motive power for robots and various useful devices. One of his robotic devices uses the head of a silk worm as its guidance system…a forerunner of “RoboCop?”      [In case you are not aware of it, a male silkworm can smell a female silkworm from nearly a mile away…a phenomenon that offers all kinds of possibilities for the future of androids!]      Prof. Ryohei Kanazaki of Tokyo University Research Center for Advanced Science   points out that that there are more than a million different insect species, and that all of them have “software” that optimizes their chances of survival in their environment—knowledge, he says, that human beings cannot even imagine.      There is more from the bug world. Scientists at Nissan Motors are studying ways to incorporate the ability of bees to change direction in flight in 1/100th of a second into the automated mechanisms of automobiles to help prevent accidents. The secret of such bee speed, Prof. Kanazaki says, is that unlike human beings bees don’t have to think about such actions. The actions occur automatically because they are integrated into the brain and body of bees.      Now if somebody can just find a real use for female mosquitoes—the only ones that suck blood! Another First for Japan! Product innovator Sony Corp., which began the transistor radio craze in the 1950s [when the company was known as Tokyo Kogyo Tsushin K.K and the miniature radio was known as “Sony”], has introduced a TV and a remote control that allows viewers to pay for movies, sporting events, etc. using the remote control device.      The remote control device comes with Sony’s new Bravia W5 series of liquid crystal display flat-panel television sets…another advance that couch-athletes will no doubt welcome. Squeezing Gas Out of Trees Scientists at Japan’s Oji Paper Company have devised a way to “crack” the ligins that bind the cellulose in trees, making it possible for them to squeeze bio-ethanol from the branches, bark and leaves of trees at approximately the same cost as making the gas substitute from food products. These parts, generally discarded, make up about 30 percent of the bulk of trees. Floating to Nagoya Sometime in the next few years passengers going from Tokyo to Nagoya by train will be able to literally “float” there, at over 500 kilometers per hour—over 300 mph—covering the distance in about 40 minutes instead of the one hour and forty minutes it now takes.      The new transportation mode that makes this high-speed “floating” possible will be Japan’s futuristic maglev train, which began making test runs in 2009. ______________________ Boyé Lafayette De Mente is the author of more than 30 pioneer business, cultural and language books on Japan, including SPEAK JAPANESE TODAY – A Little Language Goes a Long Way! [available from Amazon.com]   To see a list and synopses of his books go to: www.boyedemente.com .

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