They don't get upset when dropped from the team, never forget a routine and never stress about diet and as great they are to watch and as social media-friendly as their performances are, also demonstrate a significant technological breakthrough.
In order to balance on a ball and to move in synchronization, without colliding into other robots or physical obstacles in general, every cheerleader needs cutting-edge sensing and communication technologies that work in real time. Each robot is fitted with four infrared sensors and five ultrasonic microphones that work in daylight or darkness and can map out a 16 square meter area and the position of other cheerleaders within it.
"The Murata Cheerleaders showcase the ability of electronics to enrich our lives," says Yuichi Kojima, Senior Vice President and Deputy Director of Murata's Technology & Business Development Unit. "We believe that the wireless communication of sensor data could become a core infrastructure for the advanced integration of people and objects in smart societies."
Even in the present there is a clear potential use for these technologies in cars and motorbikes to help them communicate with each other and avoid collisions, an area where manufacturers are already investing heavily and much wide-scale research and testing is already being carried out.
The cheerleaders and their communication capabilities were developed in collaboration with researchers from Matsuno Lab at Kyoto University with an eye on this very use, and the gyro sensors that each robot uses in order to balance on its ball and move around are also used in the electronic stability control systems that prevent cars from skidding.
The Murata Cheerleaders will be making their first official public performance at the CEATEC tech show in Tokyo, Japan on October 7.
