TOKYODV Video Log

I met up with one of the founders of Vgo Communications to talk about their latest ‘active presence personal avatar’. I was impressed with the simple design, functionality, and price. At around 5,000 USD, I can see this little thing flying off the shelves for gandma and grandpa..

From the press release: “.. A remote worker establishes their presence in a distant location using VGO, a 4 ft tall stylish audio / video communication device. The remote person’s live image is displayed on the LCD display and they can be heard through VGO’s integrated speakers. With its intelligent drive system, a distant worker can maneuver in tight spaces and turn within VGO’s footprint. VGO can move from a snail’s pace to a brisk walking speed…”
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Tall, lanky models walk around futuristic Nissan cars at the Tokyo Motor Show.. Oh, yeah. The car! I think it’s a prototype Nissan Ideo, from 2003.
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My first real clip of effectively mixing sound-loops with video. The Mercedes Benz F400 Carving surprised me when I first saw it; The real-life Batmobile!

Three weeks after I posted this clip, I received an email from Germany. It was from one of the engineers who helped design the front-end steering mechanism for the F400. He liked the video and wanted to know more about what I saw at the Motor Show that day; the crowds, the impressions, the atmosphere at the Mercedes area.

We exchanged a few emails, and I got the first taste of what video could bring to the Internet experience. This was in 2001 and broadband hadn’t matured yet. At the time, everyone was streaming content. I hated streaming video; Downloading small packages of quality video was a much better experience, in my opinion.. and I knew what the viewers were seeing.

You can find more on the F400 Carving at Edmunds.com: “Incorporating drive-by-wire technology, this ‘Benz controls steering and braking through computer-monitored impulses rather than conventional racks and cables. This allows for quicker responses from the car; after all, these computers are smarter than you. They override human inputs that it deems as incorrect (Hal? Hal?)..”
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The Digiko Dunlop Girls perform, what I believe to be a popular Puffy song at the time; Cant remember the title.

There were many girls performing at the Tokyo Motor Show that day, but I was most impressed with this group. They captured the pure, innocent silliness often associated with radial tires. :D.
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Related – WATCH the most recent Digiko Girls performance here..

Some of the scenery at Tokyo Midtown in Roppongi, Japan. I shot this video a few days before it opened.

Overall, I was impressed; Grass, open space in back and natural wood inside. Much easier to navigate than Roppongi Hills, and the water everywhere keeps it cool during summer. Inside is well lit from abundant skylights.. A pleasant experience.

The video was quickly chopped together so it could be released before Midtown’s official opening in March, 2007. I got press access a couple days prior..

Read the related article from Tokyo Reporter.
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An interpretation of robot evolution; reptilian, seated/upright, then bipedal. Definite cheese factor evident, but the clip was popular when first released. Some decent shots of the serpent robot, with its small spinning drive-train and ability to roll-over or climb obstacles.
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Two Honda Asimo play soccer, climb stairs, and shadow box on a platform. One plays with a girl and chases her around the arena.

In the last frame, you’ll see a projection of Asimo’s vision. Something like Terminator, it registers the height, angle of the arms, and movement of a child in a computerized brain interface..

(music produced by Jay Berlinsky at Musicians Media Inc – your one stop shop for over 3000+ Music loops in 23 styles, licensed tracks for sale)
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Skin, skirts, boots. Gawkers, hawkers, iPods, and telephoto lenses.. Gull-wing doors, independently-wheeled steering, and non-stick gas pedals (maybe)..

“The latest in Toyota’s family of ‘Fine’ fuel cell show cars, the Fine-X is a small, four-seat minivan concept with massive gullwing doors. It features a compact fuel-cell hybrid powertrain, which drives electric motors in each of the four wheels.

Besides the exotic propulsion system, the Fine-X is also unusual in that each wheel can steer independently, through as much as 90 degrees, for extraordinary maneuverability.

But the Fine-X’s biggest party trick is that it can rotate on its own axis a full 360 degrees…” from here.
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