Robot masseur in Japan gives facials

Robot masseur
in Japan gives facials

TOKYO — With steely arms sprouting cables and wires, the WAO-1 robot looks nothing like a relaxation device.

But researchers at Tokyo’s Waseda University hope the contraption will soon be deployed to hospitals and spas across Japan to give therapeutic facial massages.

The WAO-1 robot, which stands for Waseda Asahi Oral Rehabilitation Robot 1, is being developed initially for patients with jaw-related medical problems who require facial massages as part of their treatment, according to project leader Atsuo Takanishi.

The robot’s arms are fitted with ceramic spheres the size of golf balls, and the spheres roll over the skin. The arms’ movements are controlled by a complex set of algorithms designed to emulate massages, while six sensors at the base of the arms measure and adjust the pressure applied by the spheres, Takanishi said.

The technology has to be more refined than those in electric massage chairs because the facial bone structure is much more fragile than back or spine bones, he said.

Another research team member, Ken Nishimura, said the robot could be adjusted to give beauty and relaxation massages.

“This technology can be applied very widely,” Nishimura said. “I’m looking forward to a time when this robot will give beauty facials at spas.”

The team is set to start clinical trials using the robot in November, according to Takanishi. The robot, developed with Japan’s Asahi University, must be approved by a government safety panel before it becomes available to hospitals or to the public.

Prototype phone
gives fitness check

CHIBA, Japan — It can take your pulse, check your body fat, time your jogs and tell you if you have bad breath. It even assesses stress levels and inspires you with a pep talk.

Meet your new personal trainer: your cell phone.

The prototype Wellness mobile phone from Japan’s NTT DoCoMo Inc. targets users with busy lives who want a hassle-free way of keeping track of their health, company spokesman Noriaki Tobita said.

The phone, developed with Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and unveiled recently at the CEATEC electronics show outside Tokyo, has a built-in motion sensor that detects body movement and calculates calories burned, whether you’re walking, running, climbing stairs or resting.

DoCoMo, Japan’s largest mobile phone carrier, has yet to set a release date or price for the Wellness phone and has no immediate plans to sell it overseas.

Like a sensor system that Nike Inc. and Apple Inc. developed for the iPod Nano, the handset also keeps track of runs, letting users set targets and record time, distance and calories burned — while listening to music through headphones.

Hold the phone with outstretched arms, and it turns into a mini body fat calculator. A sensor at the top of the phone takes your pulse from your fingertip.

Worried about bad breath? Blow on a tiny hole on the side of the handset for a reading.

The Wellness phone also asks questions to assesses stress levels — and offers advice.

When Tobita answered “Yes” to a series of questions — including “Do you feel lethargic?” and “Do you go to bed after midnight?” — a message appeared on the screen warning he was under a lot of stress.

“Don’t worry, tomorrow’s a fresh new day,” the phone then flashed. “Keep your chin up!”

NTT DoCoMo is still testing some of the phone’s other technology, including a function to keep track of meals and calculate calorific intake, as well as a networking capacity to let users share data, Tobita said.

Researchers create
map of the Internet

NEW YORK — It took two months and nearly 3 billion electronic probes for researchers to create a map of the Internet. Now comes the task of making sense of their data — and figuring out what they missed.

The Internet census comes from the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute in Marina del Rey, Calif.

Over two months, ISI computers sent queries to about 2.8 billion numeric “Internet Protocol,” or IP, addresses that identify individual computers on the Internet. (The domain names familiar to most people are converted into these numeric addresses behind the scenes.)

Replies came from about 187 million of the IP addresses, and researchers used that data to map out where computers exist on the Internet. At one dot per address using a typical printer, the resulting map was about 9 feet by 9 feet. The top was taped onto the 8-foot-high ceiling.

A condensed version squeezes about 65,000 addresses into a dot, with brighter colors used to show ranges of numbers where a greater number of computers exist.

John Heidemann, a senior project leader at ISI, acknowledges the map shows only a portion of the Internet. For one thing, computers may have been turned off when the probe checked their addresses. Or they were behind a firewall, or grouped in a way that several shared a single address.

Even so, the results are useful, Heidemann said. They help show how densely populated the Internet is, and they could help security researchers study the spread of computer viruses. And similar censuses over time could help track the Internet’s growth.

Koreans resort
to Internet to buy sex

SEOUL, South Korea — South Koreans are increasingly turning to the Internet and mobile phones to buy sex after a tougher anti-prostitution law in 2004 targeting brothels.

Major red-light districts throughout South Korea dropped 42 percent since 2004 to 992 this year, according to National Police Agency records released by a legislative office.

But the number of alternative locations where sex can be bought — karaoke bars, barber shops and massage parlors — increased 26 percent to 139,273 during that period, the records showed.

In a news release, the office of Ahn Myoung-ock, a member of the National Assembly’s health and welfare committee, said the Internet and mobile phones are emerging as key conduits for prostitution.

The office cited data by the state-run Korea Internet Safety Commission showing it received reports that 11,724 Web sites and mobile phone content operators were arranging prostitution as of this past June, more than quadruple the 2,680 in 2005 (The commission didn’t provide figures for previous years).

Prostitution is illegal in South Korea, and the 2004 law imposed tougher punishment on human traffickers, pimps and others involved in prostitution.

Associated Press