Japanese Firm Develops World's First Robot Powered By Fuel Cells

ROBO SPACE

Japanese robotics venture Speecys CEO Tomoaki Kasuga displays the world's first fueled cell battery powered humanoid robot 'Speecys-FC', at 50cm tall and 4.2kg in weight, equipped with five fuel cell stacks, two on each arms and one on its back for emergency and hydrogen storage alloy on its head, at the company's office in Tokyo, 30 June 2005. AFP Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno.

Tokyo (AFP) Jun 30, 2005
A Japanese company on Thursday said it has developed a humanoid billed as the world's first robot powered by easy-to-replace, environmentally friendly fuel-cell batteries.

Speecys, based in Tokyo and headed by former Sony robot engineer Tomoaki Kasuga, will on Friday begin selling the 50-centimeter (20-inch) tall, 4.2-kilogram (9.24-pound) robot carrying a built-in hydrogen cylinder.

Fuel cells produce electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, leaving water as the only by-product.

Fuel-cell batteries in cartridges can be easily replaced in contrast to conventional batteries that take hours to recharge.

"Fuel cells are a promising material as the source of energy for operating robots in the future," Speecys said in a statement.

"We believe that it is more suitable for (humanoid) robots to get fuel in cartridges as if they were having meals rather than to get batteries recharged," it said.

Speecys-FC is priced at 2.5 million yen (22,730 dollars) a unit, five times as pricy as a previous version run by conventional nickel metal hydride batteries.

The company aims to sell 10 units of Speecys-FC a year for research and display purposes.

ROBO SPACE

Engineers Deliver Robot To Neutralize Remote Explosives

Tyndall AFB (SPX) Jun 30, 2005
Engineers from the Air Force Research Laboratory Materials and Manufacturing Directorate have rapidly prototyped, developed, and delivered low-cost expendable robots to disable and dispose of improvised explosive devices.

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.