Robotics

Dr. GIY's Pre-made Me robot maid cleans up on the dance floor

Dr. GIY's Pre-made Me robot maid cleans up on the dance floor
Dr. GIY's Pre-made Me is a 52 cm tall dancing robot maid (Photo: Dr. GIY)
Dr. GIY's Pre-made Me is a 52 cm tall dancing robot maid (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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Dr. GIY's Pre-made Me is a 52 cm tall dancing robot maid (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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Dr. GIY's Pre-made Me is a 52 cm tall dancing robot maid (Photo: Dr. GIY)
Dr. GIY's concept sketch of Pre-made Me (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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Dr. GIY's concept sketch of Pre-made Me (Photo: Dr. GIY)
Pre-made Me's custom-made aluminum frame (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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Pre-made Me's custom-made aluminum frame (Photo: Dr. GIY)
Dr. GIY's CAD rendering shows where the servo motors go inside the head (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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Dr. GIY's CAD rendering shows where the servo motors go inside the head (Photo: Dr. GIY)
To make the head, Dr. GIY first carved a piece of balsa wood before using vacuum forming to mold the plastic (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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To make the head, Dr. GIY first carved a piece of balsa wood before using vacuum forming to mold the plastic (Photo: Dr. GIY)
Pre-made Me's completed head in profile (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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Pre-made Me's completed head in profile (Photo: Dr. GIY)
A rear view of Pre-made Me shows the delicate legs before the skirt and other parts have been added (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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A rear view of Pre-made Me shows the delicate legs before the skirt and other parts have been added (Photo: Dr. GIY)
Dr. GIY made these fiber-reinforced plastic shells to cover the robot's lower legs (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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Dr. GIY made these fiber-reinforced plastic shells to cover the robot's lower legs (Photo: Dr. GIY)
The legs begin to take shape - but the shoes and decorative bolts still need to be added (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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The legs begin to take shape - but the shoes and decorative bolts still need to be added (Photo: Dr. GIY)
Pre-made Me's completed apron with decorative bolts for buttons (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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Pre-made Me's completed apron with decorative bolts for buttons (Photo: Dr. GIY)
A look at Dr. GIY's custom-built robot Pre-made Me (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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A look at Dr. GIY's custom-built robot Pre-made Me (Photo: Dr. GIY)
Pre-made Me has 27 servo motors throughout its body, allowing it to move (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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Pre-made Me has 27 servo motors throughout its body, allowing it to move (Photo: Dr. GIY)
Dr. GIY programs the robot's movements, which can then be played back in sequence - a bit like stop-motion animation (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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Dr. GIY programs the robot's movements, which can then be played back in sequence - a bit like stop-motion animation (Photo: Dr. GIY)
Dr. GIY's maid-like robot Pre-made Me was built entirely by hand and took more than a year to complete (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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Dr. GIY's maid-like robot Pre-made Me was built entirely by hand and took more than a year to complete (Photo: Dr. GIY)
One of Dr. GIY's previous robots (left) fights another robot (right) in a robot wrestling tournament (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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One of Dr. GIY's previous robots (left) fights another robot (right) in a robot wrestling tournament (Photo: Dr. GIY)
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Strange as it may seem, in the last few years Japan has been home to a fad where cute girls dressed up as french maids star in J-POP, comics, animation, and video games. The distinctive costume has grown so popular that there's a number of so-called maid cafés in Tokyo's geeky Akihabara district where anyone can enjoy the thrills of being served by a horde of hostesses in full outfit. That – to say nothing of Japan's endless fascination with humanoid robots – probably explains Pre-made Me, the latest creation by well-known Japanese roboticist Dr. GIY.

Dr. GIY is one of the regulars at Japan's robot wrestling tournaments, where hobbyists can enter their robots to win a nice cash prize. Usually it's a one-on-one duel where the participants try to knock each other down three times (a far gentler approach compared to the American competitions, where losing robots are virtually destroyed). Over the past decade he's built several prize-winning robots using parts sold by Kondo Kagaku – one of the first companies to put out humanoid robot kits – amongst others.

One of Dr. GIY's previous robots (left) fights another robot (right) in a robot wrestling tournament (Photo: Dr. GIY)
One of Dr. GIY's previous robots (left) fights another robot (right) in a robot wrestling tournament (Photo: Dr. GIY)

Unlike his champion wrestling robots, which owe their appearance to a legion of different giant robot heroes, Pre-made Me (or should that be translated as Pre-maid Me?) is different. Dr. GIY based her look on a character called Drossel, which is a Disney Japan creation that has her own premium toy line. Standing an impressive 20 inches (52 cm) tall (with an undisclosed weight), Pre-made Me cuts a slender figure and was designed specifically to put on elaborately choreographed dance shows.

In total, the robot has 27 degrees of freedom (6 per leg, 6 per arm, and 3 in the head and neck), actuated by Kondo servo motors, and is powered by a 11.1 V, 1,000 mAh Li-Po battery. Her paper thin exoskeleton was crafted by hand out of fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP), which fits perfectly over an aluminum frame. For the head, he carved a piece of balsa wood and then vacuum formed a piece of plastic over it. In all, it took him more than a year to complete the robot.

You can watch Pre-made Me do her thing in the following video, set to the tune of an AKB48 song (a popular all-girl J-POP group with no less than 91 members that, according to Wikipedia, is one of the highest-earning music groups in the world today). It's important to know that programming these robots to balance properly is notoriously difficult, so keep that in mind as you watch its fancy footwork.

Source: Dr. GIY (Japanese)

View gallery - 15 images
5 comments
5 comments
Clay Jones
Wow. The soundtrack nearly killed me, but the fluidity of motion is pretty impressive.
Phillip Criddle
Today they dance, tomorrow, they take over the world....lol
lwesson
They will take over the World as they sing and dance. Robo Fred Astaire!
Richard Unger
I loved the pop video the work that went into programming it to the music was impressive, I can appreciate the effort
Gregg Eshelman
Getting ever closer to the little robots in anime like Hand Maid May and Angelic Layer.