TOPIO is a bipedal humanoid robot

Humanoid robot

A humanoid robot or an anthropomorphic robot is a robot with its overall appearance, based on that of the human body, allowing interaction with made-for-human tools or environments. In general humanoid robots have a torso with a head, two arms and two legs, although some forms of humanoid robots...

 designed to play table tennis

Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

 against a human being. It has been developed since 2005 by TOSY

TOSY

TOSY Robotics is the first Vietnamese robots manufacturing company best known for the development of TOPIO - a robot that can play ping-pong with humans...

, a robotics firm in Vietnam. It was publicly demonstrated at the Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 International Robot Exhibition

International Robot Exhibition

The International Robot Exhibition is the largest robot trade fair in the world. It is an event that has been staged once every two years in Tokyo, Japan since 1973 and is organized by the Japan Robot Association and the company Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, Ltd...

 (IREX) on November 28, 2007. TOPIO 3.0 (the latest version of TOPIO) stands approximately 1.88 m tall and weighs 120 kg. Every TOPIO uses an advanced artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

 system to learn and continuously improve its skill level while playing.

Development history

Time	Place	Event	Notes
November, 2005	TOSY Robotics TOSY TOSY Robotics is the first Vietnamese robots manufacturing company best known for the development of TOPIO - a robot that can play ping-pong with humans...	Project TOPIO was started
July, 2007	TOSY Robotics TOSY TOSY Robotics is the first Vietnamese robots manufacturing company best known for the development of TOPIO - a robot that can play ping-pong with humans...	First experiment version of TOPIO demonstrated	8 degrees of freedom, 1 leg, hydraulic system
28 November 2007	Tokyo International Robot Exhibition International Robot Exhibition The International Robot Exhibition is the largest robot trade fair in the world. It is an event that has been staged once every two years in Tokyo, Japan since 1973 and is organized by the Japan Robot Association and the company Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, Ltd... , Japan	TOPIO 1.0 publicly demonstrated	20 degrees of freedom, 6 legs, hydraulic system
5 February, 2009	Nuremberg International Toy Fair Nuremberg International Toy Fair Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair Nürnberg is the largest international trade fair for toys and games. Only trade visitors associated with the toy business, journalists and invited guests are admitted... , Germany	TOPIO 2.0 publicly demonstrated	42 degrees of freedom, 2 legs, DC servo motors
25 November 2009	Tokyo International Robot Exhibition International Robot Exhibition The International Robot Exhibition is the largest robot trade fair in the world. It is an event that has been staged once every two years in Tokyo, Japan since 1973 and is organized by the Japan Robot Association and the company Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, Ltd... , Japan	TOPIO 3.0 publicly demonstrated	39 degrees of freedom, 2 legs, Brushless DC servo motors
4-9 February 2010	Nuremberg International Toy Fair, Germany	TOPIO 3.0 publicly demonstrated	39 degrees of freedom, 2 legs, Brushless DC servo motors
8-11 June 2010	AUTOMATICA URBUTT, Germany	TOPIO 3.0 publicly demonstrated	39 degrees of freedom, 2 legs, Brushless DC servo motors

Specifications

	TOPIO 1.0	TOPIO 2.0	TOPIO 3.0
Height	185 cm	215 cm	188 cm
Mass	300 kg	60 kg	120 kg
Power supply Power supply A power supply is a device that supplies electrical energy to one or more electric loads. The term is most commonly applied to devices that convert one form of electrical energy to another, though it may also refer to devices that convert another form of energy to electrical energy...	Hydraulic	Li-Po Li-Po Li Bai , also known as Li Po, was a Chinese poet.Li Po, Li-Po, or LiPo may also refer to:* Hang Li Po, a Chinese Malaysian princess* Lithium-ion polymer battery...  battery Battery (electricity) An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power... , 48V 20AH	Li-Po Li-Po Li Bai , also known as Li Po, was a Chinese poet.Li Po, Li-Po, or LiPo may also refer to:* Hang Li Po, a Chinese Malaysian princess* Lithium-ion polymer battery...  battery Battery (electricity) An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power... , 48V 20AH
Actuator Actuator An actuator is a type of motor for moving or controlling a mechanism or system. It is operated by a source of energy, usually in the form of an electric current, hydraulic fluid pressure or pneumatic pressure, and converts that energy into some kind of motion. An actuator is the mechanism by which...	Hydraulic cylinder Hydraulic cylinder A Hydraulic cylinder is a mechanical actuator that is used to give a unidirectional force through a unidirectional stroke. It has many applications, notably in engineering vehicles.- Operation :...	DC Servo Motor Servo motor thumb|right|200px|Industrial servomotorThe grey/green cylinder is the [[Brush |brush-type]] [[DC motor]]. The black section at the bottom contains the [[Epicyclic gearing|planetary]] [[Reduction drive|reduction gear]], and the black object on top of the motor is the optical [[rotary encoder]] for...	Brushless DC Servo Motor Servo motor thumb|right|200px|Industrial servomotorThe grey/green cylinder is the [[Brush |brush-type]] [[DC motor]]. The black section at the bottom contains the [[Epicyclic gearing|planetary]] [[Reduction drive|reduction gear]], and the black object on top of the motor is the optical [[rotary encoder]] for...
Legs	6	2	2
High speed camera High speed camera A high speed camera is a device used for recording fast moving objects as a photographic image onto a storage media. After recording, the images stored on the media can be played back in slow-motion...	2	2	2
Continuous shots	6	5	10
Degrees of freedom	20 Two in the head Six in each arm One in each leg (6 legs)	42 Three in the head Seven in each arm Six in each leg (2 legs) Three in the torso Five in each hand	39 Two in the head Seven in each arm Six in each leg (2 legs) One in the torso Five in each hand

Technologies

• Recognition of fast moving objects
• Artificial Intelligence
  Artificial intelligence
  Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
  
  
• Low Inertia mechanical system
• Fast and accurate movement control
• Balanced bipedal walking

See also

• Humanoid robot
  Humanoid robot
  A humanoid robot or an anthropomorphic robot is a robot with its overall appearance, based on that of the human body, allowing interaction with made-for-human tools or environments. In general humanoid robots have a torso with a head, two arms and two legs, although some forms of humanoid robots...
  
  
• Actroid
• Android
• ASIMO
  ASIMO
  is a humanoid robot created by Honda. Introduced in 2000, ASIMO, which is an acronym for "Advanced Step in Innovative MObility", was created to be a helper to people. With aspirations of helping people who lack full mobility, ASIMO is used to encourage young people to study science and mathematics...
  
  
• Gynoid
  Gynoid
  A gynoid is anything which resembles or pertains to the female human form. It is also used in American English medical terminology as a shortening of the term Gynecoid ....
  
  
• QRIO
  QRIO
  QRIO was to be a bipedal humanoid entertainment robot developed and marketed by Sony to follow up on the success of its AIBO toy. QRIO stood approximately 0.6 m tall and weighed 7.3 kg...
  
  
• HUBO
  HUBO
  HUBO is a walking humanoid robot, head mounted on a life-size walking bipedal frame, developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and released on January 6, 2005...
  
  
• HRP-4C
  HRP-4C
  The HRP-4C is a female humanoid robot, created by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology - a Japanese research facility. An in-public demonstration was put on March 16, 2009. It measures 158 centimetres tall, and weighs 43 kilos - including a battery pack...
  
  

External links

• TOPIO video - YouTube
  YouTube
  YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
  
  
• "I, the Ping Pong Robot" - Softpedia
  Softpedia
  Softpedia is an Internet web site that indexes information and provides software downloads. The site also covers major technology, science, health, and entertainment news from both external and in-house sources and provides software and game reviews. , it is one of the top 500 websites according to...
  
  
• "Ping Pong Playing Robots" - www.robots.net
• "TOPIO - The Ping Pong Playing Robot" - www.robotliving.com
• "Play ping-pong or feed the baby at Tokyo robot fair" - Reuters
  Reuters
  Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...