I'm back from iREX with a review and slideshow you may find of interest

Hi, In my quest to track the business of robotics, I went to Tokyo for the International Robot Exposition (iREX) 2009 show last week. It was held at Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo Bay - a monstrous convention center with multiple trade shows going on at the same time. Thousands of ernest, black suited young people attended. I missed Thanksgiving but it was a fun experience for me nevertheless. Learning to use the Metro; finding my way to the Apple Store; getting a haircut; repairing broken eye-glasses, slurping my ramen... all part of the adventure. I wrote a blog entry detailing the experience on Everything Robotic. To me, the key message that I carried back with me came from Rainer Bischoff (of EUROP and KUKA) who said, "Technology, economics and customer demand are re-shaping the future of robotics into one of service and human interaction." And I made a slideshow of my photos which I think you may like (although I'm not that great of a photographer). Here's the link to the video: http://www.therobotreport.com If you can think of a friend or two that might be interested in the state of robotics today, please forward this message and links to them. I'd appreciate it. Cordially, Frank Tobe THE ROBOT REPORT Tracking the business of robotics