By Lan Dung
HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The rhythm of Japan's Maru Maru Mori Mori song rings out loud and clear. The dancing toy robot bows his head to say hello to viewers and starts to dance.
This was a regular scene at the Viet Nam Manufaturing Expo 2013 held on September 4-6 at the International Centre for Exhibitions Culture Palace.
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Manoi PF01 robot impresses Vietnamese viewers. VNS Photos Lan Dung
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The robot is the second in a series invented by Japanese toy manufacturer Kyosho. It is called Manoi PF01 and has been on the market since 2005 but this was the first time it had appeared in Viet Nam.
The machine is 40cm in height and its arms span 15cm. It weighs 2.1kg, has 17 degrees of freedom and is powered by three Lithium polymer batteries. The dancing toy can keep perfect balance thanks to two gyro censors put into its plastic body.
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Viewers stand around to see the performance of the Manoi PF01 robot.
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Japan-Viet Nam robot co-operation
The Kyosho Corporation partnered with the Ha Noi University of Science and Technology (HUST) to introduce the robot at the exhibition.
Over three months, students taking part in a Human Higher Education Development Support Project (HEDSPI) worked on the coding for the robot's actions under the instruction of Ngo Lam Trung, who works at the HUST's School of Information and Communication Technology. The project also involved Japanese universities and the budget came from a Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan, a JICA grant and local government funding.
Trung said: "After receiving the request from Kyosho, we decided to programme the robot to make dance steps following two children songs, one from Japan and one from Viet Nam. We picked up Japanese song Maru Maru Mori Mori and Vietnamese folk song Trong Com (Cylindrical Drum) because the robot could move its head, arms and legs to match the rhythm of the songs."
The process of coding and testing finished two days before the event kicked off. Coders had to read many documents online about robot programming. Small groups were in charge of finishing the coding for every small part of the songs before the work was united.
Student Trinh Khac Linh, a member of the coding group, said: "Technical errors also happened and we ran a rollback programme to find and fix them."
He revealed that the robot could receive orders from owners' smartphones but the technical group had not yet finished a mobile robot navigation system. — VNS