Murata Boy and Murata Girl are two self-balancing robots developed by

Murata Manufacturing is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic components, based in Nagaokakyo, Kyoto. Honorary Chairman Akira Murata started Murata Manufacturing as a personal venture in October, 1944. In December 1950 reorganized the company into Murata Manufac ...

, a

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese

electronic component An electronic component is any basic discrete device or physical entity in an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields. Electronic components are mostly industrial products, available in a singular form and are no ...

s company. The company developed the

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...

s to showcase a range of their products and generate publicity. The robots are designed to be as energy-efficient as possible, both in their basic technological components and through features like automatic sleep mode.

Murata Boy

Murata Boy is a bicycle-riding robot which, standing 50 cm tall and weighing 5 kg, can travel at a speed up to 2 km per hour. It can balance on the bike moving forwards, backwards, and when remaining still (without planting his feet on the ground). The robot is equipped with: * gyro sensors (for stability and redressing) * a shock sensor (for impact detection) * an angular velocity sensor * a temperature monitor * a

CCD camera A charge-coupled device (CCD) is an integrated circuit containing an array of linked, or coupled, capacitors. Under the control of an external circuit, each capacitor can transfer its electric charge to a neighboring capacitor. CCD sensors are a ...

* an

ultrasonic sensor Ultrasonic transducers and ultrasonic sensors are devices that generate or sense ultrasound energy. They can be divided into three broad categories: transmitters, receivers and transceivers. Transmitters convert electrical signals into ultrasou ...

(for obstacle detection) * an

infrared sensor Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

(for detecting human movement) * an EMI filter (to reduce electronic interference) *

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves ...

and energy-efficient close-distance

bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

modules (for interaction) Murata Boy was listed on ''TIME'' magazine's list of Best Inventions of 2006.

Murata Girl

Murata Girl is a unicycle-riding robot released in 2008, standing 50 cm tall and weighing 6 kg that can travel at a speed of 5 cm per second and can ride along a balance beam. She is equipped with the following: * gyro sensors (for stability and redressing) * a shock sensor (for impact detection) * a temperature monitor * a CCD camera * an ultrasonic sensor (for obstacle detection) * an infrared sensor (for detecting human movement) *

and energy-efficient close-distance

modules

References

Best Balance Bike

External links

{{Humanoid robots 2005 robots Humanoid robots Robotics in Japanbr>Best Balance Bike