Ugo robots are remotely controlled via wireless connection with laptop and game controller
Tokyo:
Mira Robotics has developed its “ugo” robot to reinforce the shrinking workforce in Japan, but as the threat of coronavirus persists, the Japanese startup offers its machine as a tool in the fight against the epidemic, said the CEO of the society.
“The coronavirus has created a need for robots because they can reduce direct contact between people,” Ken Matsui told Reuters in his company’s workshop in Kawasaki, near Tokyo. “We have received inquiries from abroad, including Singapore and France.”
The final feature of the remote-controlled robot or so-called avatar is a hand-held accessory that uses ultraviolet light to kill viruses on door handles.
An unprecedented demographic decline that reduces the Japanese workforce by more than half a million people a year, as well as a reluctance to use foreign labor to fill vacancies has stimulated the development of robots in Japan.
The emergence of a demand linked to coronaviruses could advance this work.
The Ugo from Mira Robotics is a pair of height-adjustable robotic arms mounted on wheels, remotely controlled via wireless connection with a laptop and game controller. A base-mounted distance measuring laser helps it to navigate, while a panel at the top displays the eyes to make it look more user-friendly.
It takes about 30 minutes to learn how to use the robot, with each operator able to control up to four machines, said Matsui. Ugo, which costs about $ 1,000 a month to rent, can be deployed as a security guard, perform equipment inspections and clean toilets and other areas in office buildings, he added.
Matsui’s two-year-old startup has so far only one ugo operating in an office building in Tokyo.
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
