Robot makers in Japan are obviously not content with their creations playing musical instruments and reading out the weather forecast, as Murata Manufacturing has now produced an Armstrong-esque automaton.
Little Murata Seisaku-kun (or Murata Boy) is only 50-cm-tall, but with the use of sensors he can remain perfectly balanced — even when stationary. His stability skillfully demonstrated at the CEATEC Japan 2005 exhibition, with the diminutive chap cycling on a 2-cm-wide balance beam. All this whilst rattling along at a heart fluttering 60 cm per second too.
Yet as impressive as this is, if Murata Boy is going to survive in Japan, there’s one more feat of balance and dexterity he’ll need to master — the age-old practice of cycling whilst using an umbrella.
Only then will the young fella have truly earned his stripes.