Aichi Expo 2005 Prototype Robot Exhibition

June 19 (Sunday)
The final day. Many visitors even in the morning as the exhibition will be closed at 16:00. It was reported that some visitors could not enter the exhibition near the closing time.

KOHARO MC demonstration (starts at 12:00).

KOHARO final MC demonstration (starts at 14:00).

Nice to meet you again.

Farewell. Thank you for your contributions.

Robots.

In the morning.

June 18 (Saturday)
The 10th day. Many audiences around the stage during MC demonstration. It was reported that the Expo accepted 170,000 visitors, which was the record. The maximum waiting time for the Prototype Exhibition reached to 120 minutes.

Backyard.

In the morning and in the evening. Over 1 hour to take LINIMO at EXPO Venue Station at night.

June 17 (Friday)
The 9th day. Questions and comments.

SMA shrinks quickly, but extends slowly. How do you improve the extension speed?
This must be BioMetal. I'm afraid it is soon fatigued.
I got the same idea before!

Thanks from Osaka.

June 16 (Thursday)
The 8th day.

June 15 (Wednesday)
The 7th day. Background images for PC.

June 14 (Tuesday)
The 6th day. Private visit to the Expo venue and the Prototype Exhibition. My son is happy to get a Pumpkin Pie (yellow and purple balloon) from Pal-kun in the demonstration of Emiew (Hitachi).

June 13 (Monday)
The 5th day. I cannot forget "Dondurman" song.

June 12 (Sunday)
The 4th day. Visitors in back cannot KOHAROs since our demonstration is performed on a table. So, we have set a video system so that a demonstration scene can be seen on a PDP during MC demonstration.

June 11 (Saturday)
The 3rd day. It was reported that the Expo accepted 145,000 visitors. The Prototype Exhibition accepted over 16,000 visitors. Over one tenth Expo visitors have visited the exhibition.

June 10 (Friday)
The 2nd day. Open at 9:00. As many TV programs and newspapers introduced the exhibition, the messe was crowded by visitor. Many technical questions:

What is the principle of jumping?
Do you apply bimetals to the bendable body?
What is in the center of the crawling robot?
Which CPU are you using?
Can you make them be wireless?
Why don't you apply polymer actuators?

Two asked the bimetal question. One notices the principle of jumping ahead "Oh, I see, they are spring steels" during my explanation. Comments:

Quite interesting.
Strange but wonderful.

Kindergarten and elementary school children often gazed at the robots.

June 9 (Thursday)
The 1st day. After opening ceremony and press preview, the exhibition started at 11:00. A waiting queue at the entrance at that time. Demonstration started in the crowded audience.

June 8 (Wednesday)
Rehearsal. Modified the demonstration script to refine MC demonstration. We have selected a background music from a copy-right free CD to make the MC demonstration more attractive.

June 7 (Tuesday)
Carry-in and construction. Started at 18:30. Construction finished after 23:30. Some returned to the hotel by the final LINIMO and the other did by the car for carrying. Late dinner after 24:00.

Photos by Shota Uehara.