First of all, I'd really like to apologise for the lack of updates and the fact that I haven't been replying to my EMail lately - I really do intend to address both in the very near future, but the problem was I was caught up with an unexpected trip, and while was able to cobble together an auto updater system ( ... ok, I made up some CuteFTP queues and left instructions for my parents, just like I did when I went to Victor Harbour) I didn't do any written updates, hence the hmmms. Really you should all be glad I didn't leave you with another lame update week!

Before I tell you where I've been, I should probably fill you in on the back story. Late last year, I was actually contacted by a division of Sega toys from Japan about the possibility of working on the design of a new companion robot series, (robot pets are really big in Japan where people live in small apartments and work long hours) that was going to extend their pre-existing K0K0-R0B0 (Poo-chi is probably the most recognised in the west) and Family Robot series, but push the boundaries of autonomous actions, that is, be a sort of rival to Sony's own advanced Aibo range, except biped, and in a more fanciful direction.

I've obviously managed to acquire some fans in funny places because they had quite a lot of interest in both the DT dragons, and that old tin can model I made for a school project (man, how many people have asked about that over the years o_O) Obviously I jumped at the chance, most of the work's been over the net. Clearly I'm no robot engineer, anything I could draw had to be heavily adapted anyway, and I'm actually unsure just what kind of royalty structure I can hope to receive (or heck, even if I am) although to be honest this whole thing is so cool that I'm happy just to be involved with it, and I'll take what comes of it.

The project was called DraKo, and while I did suggest Tinny Mk 4, it really met with an embarrassed confusion, since I assume any interest in my work did not extend to actually reading the comic and attempting to explain the exploits of a crazy squirrel really pushed the already impressive language barrier to the brink. They didn't even really get when I was asking if they were going to release a special version in blue. Ahh well!

Cropped out of an information sheet I received, the rest was in Kanji

Whoops! Slippery little sucker!

Yes that's right - I need a haircut.

The design really impressed me, particularly the wings - you can see how the struts are geared so they extend evenly, I thought that was really slick. If you look closely at the joints you'll realise it can't swivel them for mock flight, but it can do an excellent job of posing them. The head looks huge, but it's not actually that heavy, hence the deceptively small neck. With the power off, everything kind of flops around, it's a little disconcerting really.

He's surprisingly heavy for his size, I was told it was mostly due to the battery pack occupying most of his lower half - currently they think he can run for a little under an hour between recharges. (which are currently performed by taking his tail off and attaching him to a power converter, but this was a prototype after all) Apparently the Aibo robots use a digital camera and infrared detector to sense the world around them, DraKo actually uses two cameras for stereo vision - actually it was interesting, the bizarre side bubble eyed design of my characters meant they adapted the cameras into the nostrils instead. The eyes are used for LED readouts, and apparently it'll be able to do things like follow your finger with an inner light and change colours to reflect it's mood, although the only one they showed me was this adorable Japanese style arc for 'happy'

I feel like a 'baka' - the only clear picture I got of him standing and I chopped the head off

He still falls over a lot, although for something that stands on two feet, I was really impressed by how well he managed. It's got this natural motion system they're developing that continuously compensates for it's weight and heading, it looks disturbingly 'natural' (for a robot) to see it in action actually, I wish I could upload some of the video, but man, digitally encoding the clips is too much work for now. He doesn't do much than just stand by himself - during the presentation they trailed wires across the desk and into his back so they could run some desktop software that covered some of his more interesting actions, like getting up after falling down, which is the only function he really uses his hands for a the moment. Later versions are both going to have a bigger on board processor, and a wireless network card, much like the Aibo range actually.

Anyway, I've still got to unpack the three and a half shirts I bothered to throw in a bag for this short hop across, I just wanted to handle this update manually because I was so excited about this all, especially since I've got something for the first time that isn't explicitly covered by the NDA. I don't know when they expect to go retail with them, although they will be very expensive. To be honest I'm just glad I've got a production model earmarked for me, since I don't think I could afford one otherwise!!! I don't know if they'll ever be released out of Japan, since the interest is apparently really weak in places like America, which seems a shame, since this thing is seriously awesome!

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