While in Tokyo, Momo caught a cold, so I set off on a miserable rainy day by myself with adventure in mind. Adventure of the geeky kind, that is. I caught the automated
Yurikamome "new transit" line to Odaiba. It's essentially a computer driven bus on a raised track. I took some video along the way, hoping to give a better glimpse of Tokyo, although the weather made for some drab vistas.
As soon as I got on the train, I walked up to the front of the "train" so I could look out the window (and take video). I felt a little silly since the only other people who seemed interested in doing the same were giggling children.
Odaiba, my destination, is a man-made island in Tokyo Bay. It is the home to several large (and truly interesting) tourist attractions, one of which is the
Miraikan National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. My inner geek was excited as I made my way there and was not disappointed. My first treat was a
live Asimo demonstration. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with
Asimo, it's a humanoid robot made by Honda and about as close to a science fiction robot that today's technology can get you.
Of course, I caught some video.
The demonstration was conducted in an open part of the building underneath a very large globe that had patterns of some nature (weather perhaps?) moving around it.
After that, the wonders did not cease.
Super-long electric car of the future. This was located at the entrance to an entire floor dedicated to environmentally friendly science and technology.
Therapeutic Robot "Paro". A robotic baby seal that reacts to touch.
Remote controlled robots that float on metal using magnetism.
A miniature
Maglev train (it's floating on the metal track).
"Rescue Robot Field" - a small testing ground for odd-looking robots designed to work in places where people cant.
A robot "boy" with a the outer covering removed.
"A Hands-On Model of the Internet" - It's a large contraption with several terminals that uses white and black ping-pong balls to represent binary code and show how computers send and receive email in a physical way.
The "Ride Cam", where you (and a partner) can "pilot" a small six-legged robot. The big blue room is a 3-D virtual-reality theater (like flight simulators or roller-coaster simulators at theme-parks) where you "drive" the little robot and "see" through it's stereo camera eyes. The two people controlling the robot must work together to get the robot to move. This was an interesting proposition for me as I was there alone and only spoke a little Japanese. A younger guy with a good sense of humor took up the reins with me and we were pretty successful. If you made the robot 50 feet tall you'd have Robotech.
A classroom where young students can assemble various types of little robots.
The engine from a Japanese rocket.
A wall-sized display of a gene sequence which you can rearrange by sliding plexiglass tiles.
A mock-up of a laboratory sent up in the cargo bay of the space shuttle with the actual instruments that were inside of it.
It was signed by a bunch of "space luminaries", of whom I only recognized
Buzz Aldrin.
This place made the Museum of Science in Boston look like an elementary-school science fair. I spent three hours there and easily could have spent more. The displays were incredibly thorough yet engaging as well. I'd recommend it to any egg-head visiting Tokyo. I'll probably go again when I return.
