TOKYO: Forget the flashy humanoids with their gymnastics skills: at the World Robot Summit in Tokyo, the focus was on down-to-earth robots that can deliver post, do the shopping and build a house.
Introducing CarriRo, a delivery robot shaped a bit like a toy London bus with bright, friendly “eyes” on its front that can zip around the streets delivering packages at 6km/h (4 miles per hour).
CarriRo “is designed to roll along the pavements and direct itself via GPS to an address within a two-kilometer radius,” explained Chio Ishikawa, from Sumitomo Corp, which is promoting the robot.
The lucky recipient of the package is sent a code to a smartphone allowing him or her to access CarriRo’s innards and retrieve whatever is inside — post, medicine or a take-away.
Services like this are especially needed in aging Japan. With nearly 28 percent of the population over 65, mobility is increasingly limited and the country is struggling for working-age employees.
Toyota’s HSR (Human Support Robot) may not be an oil painting to look at — standing a meter tall, it looks like a bin with arms — but it can provide vital help for the aged or handicapped at home.
Capable of handling and manoeuvring a variety of objects, it also provides a key interface with the outside world via its Internet-connected screen for a head.
Japan’s manpower shortage is felt especially keenly in the retail and construction sectors and firms at the summit were keen to demonstrate their latest solutions.
Omron showcased a robot that can be programmed to glide around a supermarket and place various items into a basket. Possibly useful for a lazy — or infirm — shopper but more likely to be put to use in a logistics warehouse.
Japan also has difficulty finding staff to stack shelves at its 55,000 convenience stores open 24/7 and here too, robots can fill the gap.
With buildings going up at breakneck pace as Tokyo prepares to welcome the world for the 2020 Olympics, there are construction sites all over the city but not always enough people to work them.
Enter HRP-5P. The snappily named, humanoid-shaped machine certainly has the look of a brawny builder, at 182cm tall and weighing in at 101 kilogrammes.
And HRP-5P is designed to carry out the same construction tasks that humans currently perform — even when left to its own devices.
HRP-5P “can use the same tools as a man, which is why we gave it the shape of a human — two legs, two arms and a head,” explained one of its creators, Kenji Kaneko from the National Advanced Industrial Science and Technology research facility.
Manufacturers were also promoting the latest in talking robots, which are becoming increasingly “intelligent” in their responses.
Sharp’s Robohon, a cute-as-pie humanoid robot standing only 20 centimeters tall, has been employed since last month to recount to tourists the history of the ancient Imperial capital of Kyoto — in English, Japanese or Chinese.
And very popular among Japanese visitors to the World Robot Summit was a robot replica of Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, one of the country’s top TV stars.
Created in collaboration with Japanese robotics master Hiroshi Ishiguro, the robot replicates the 85-year-old’s facial expressions almost perfectly but conversation with the machine hardly flows.
“The difficulty is being able to create fluid conversations with different people,” said Junji Tomita, engineer at telecoms giant NTT which is also involved in the project.
“The number of possible responses to an open question is so vast that it is very complicated,” admitted Tomita.
Postman, shopper, builder: In Japan, there’s a robot for that
Postman, shopper, builder: In Japan, there’s a robot for that
- CarriRo “is designed to roll along the pavements and direct itself via GPS to an address within a two-kilometer radius,” explained Chio Ishikawa, from Sumitomo Corp, which is promoting the robot
- The lucky recipient of the package is sent a code to a smartphone allowing him or her to access CarriRo’s innards and retrieve whatever is inside — post, medicine or a take-away
Over 4,000 participate in second World Athletics-certified marathon in Karachi
- Athletes from Poland, Germany, Japan and other countries take part in marathon event
- The event featured Marathon (42.195 KM), Marathon Relay, Half Marathon (21.0975 KM) and 5KM Fun Race
KARACHI: At least 4,000 people from all walks of life took part in an annual marathon event, accredited by the World Athletics and held in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi on Sunday, its organizer said.
The event kicked off on Sunday morning from the city’s Nishan-e-Pakistan monument at Sea View. It featured five types of marathons, such as the Full Marathon (42.195km) the Half-Marathon (21.1 km), the Relay Marathon, a team of four participants for 42.2km (10.5km run, 10.5km run, 10.5km run, 10.5km run and the Fun Run, a 5 km run.
Athletes hailing from Poland, Germany, Japan and many others participated in the event, Sports in Pakistan, one of the organizers of the event, said in a press release. The marathon’s certification by the World Rankings Competition ensured a world-class experience for all participants, it added.
“We are delighted with the overwhelming success of the Karachi Marathon 2025,” Shoaib Nizami, CEO of Sports in Pakistan, said.
“The event has emerged as a testament to Karachi’s unwavering resilience and warm hospitality and we extend our sincerest gratitude to our participants, sponsors, and partners for their invaluable support.”
The top performers in each category were:
Marathon Category:
- Male Winner (1st Prize): Israr Muhammad (Pakistan) – Time: 2:30:13 won Rs. 500,000/
- Male Winner (2nd Prize): Muhammad Riaz (Pakistan) – 2:32:13 won Rs. 250,000/
- Female Winner (1st Prize): Enub Khan (Pakistan) – 3:47:49 won Rs. 500,000/
- Female Winner (2nd Prize): Uzma Abid (Pakistan) – 4:01:13 won Rs. 250,000/
Half Marathon Category:
- Male Winner (1st Prize): Muhammad Ajhtar (Pakistan) – Time: 1:12:08 won Rs. 50,000/
- Second Runner-up Male (2nd Prize): Qasim Bajwa (Pakistan) – 1:12:52 won Rs. 40,000/
- Female Winner (1st Prize): Mumtaz Naimat – 1:43:26 won Rs. 50,000/
- Second Runner-up Female (2nd Prize): Dua Nazakat (Pakistan) – 1:51:45 won Rs. 40,000/
The city saw its first-ever World Athletics-certified marathon last year in January 2024 where hundreds of people from all walks of life participated.
Pic Group president David Sinapian discusses French brand’s expansion and Gulf success
DUBAI: With three Michelin stars at their flagship restaurant Maison Pic in Valence, France, the president of Pic Group, David Sinapian, and his wife and celebrated chef Anne-Sophie Pic are on a mission to take French culinary genius to the world.
After entering a long-term partnership with French luxury label Dior to open Dior Cafes around the world — starting with two outposts in Japan in December 2024 — Pic and Sinapian have their sights set on the Gulf.
“We have almost reached the potential for development of the catering business in Saudi Arabia, and I believe that the future holds great opportunities for the industry in the Kingdom. It is a no-brainer,” Sinapian told Arab News en Francais recently, three years after the Pic Group hosted a pop-up restaurant in AlUla.
Meanwhile, in the UAE, the group opened La Dame de Pic Dubai at the city’s swanky One&Only Zaabeel hotel in 2024, nabbing a Michelin star in the 2024 guide and being voted the World’s Best New Restaurant 2024 at the fifth annual World Culinary Awards.
“I have witnessed an evolution at a pace that continues to surprise me ... and that’s what characterizes business in the Emirates,” Sinapian said of the famously fast-paced food and beverage industry in the city.
“You can be in fashion one moment and quickly out of it the next, because the market changes, and if you can’t adapt, you’re left behind,” he added.
The Pic Group’s international accolades are the latest in a long list of culinary nods for a brand founded in the late 19th century.
The precursor to Maison Pic, Cafe-Restaurant du Pin opened its rather more humble doors in 1889, with Pic’s great grandmother cooking ingredients hunted and farmed by her husband. Pic’s grandfather, Andre, then took over the family restaurant and earned it three Michelin stars in 1934.
Over the decades, Maison Pic lost and gained stars with the most recent blow being dealt after Pic’s father Jacques died in 1992 — the restaurant lost its third star in 1995 before Sophie-Anne returned in 1997 to head up the kitchen. After 10 years of creating memorable dishes in the restaurant, she gained back the third star in 2007.
“We began to build an ecosystem together and expand our business by opening other restaurants,” Sinapian told Arab News of the period that followed.
In 2009, they cut the ribbon on Pic au Beau-Rivage Palace in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“I was in charge of building the project in terms of identity, design and team building, while Anne-Sophie began to create a new menu using Swiss products,” Sinapian said, explaining their working relationship.
The Pic name then expanded its activity internationally, with openings in Paris, London, Singapore, Megeve, Hong Kong, and Dubai alongside its projects in Japan.
A new Monsieur Dior restaurant opening in Osaka, Japan, in 2025, will be orchestrated by the French chef.
“Anne-Sophie has had an affinity for Japan for a very long time, and so have I. It’s the love she has for tea, the products, and Japanese refinement,” Sinapian said.
French Algerian actress Sofia Boutella begins year with ‘SAS Rogue Heroes’
DUBAI: French Algerian actress Sofia Boutella started the new year on a high note with the premiere of season two of the BBC series “SAS Rogue Heroes.”
“Happy New … SAS season 2 is out … and Happy New Year,” she wrote on Instagram this week, sharing on-set pictures of herself and her co-stars from the military drama, which chronicles the exploits of the British Army’s special forces unit.
Series two, created by Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders”), picks up with British troops in the spring of 1943 during World War II.
Returning for the sequel are actors Jack O’Connell, Connor Swindells, Dominic West and Sofia Boutella, who reprises her role as French intelligence agent Eve Mansour.
Commissioned by the BBC, the show is based on Ben Macintyre’s best-selling book of the same name, with season two having been directed by Stephen Woolfenden.
Boutella most recently starred “The Killer’s Game,” which hit cinemas in September, and Netflix’s “Rebel Moon — Part 2: The Scargiver.”
In the sci-fi adventure — a sequel to last year’s “Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire” — a peaceful colony on the edge of a galaxy finds itself threatened by the armies of a tyrannical ruling force.
Kora, played by Boutella, has assembled a small band of warriors — outsiders, insurgents, peasants and orphans of war from different worlds.
Boutella drew on her history as an immigrant. She grew up in Algeria during its civil war and later moved to France and found herself navigating the complexities of adapting to a different culture.
“Having left Algeria young, when I go back there I don’t feel like I belong to Algeria. And then, in France, I don’t feel like I belong to France because I didn’t grow up there,” she told Arab News in a previous interview.
Boutella has learned to embrace her rootlessness, though. “I feel like I belong to this planet. I have the freedom to travel wherever I want, without any limitation,” she said. “But sometimes, I miss the proximity and attachment that people have to their country.”
Kora was not Algiers-born Boutella’s first role as a sword-wielding extraterrestrial. The actress, who at the age of 10 fled to Paris with her family during the Algerian civil war, is known for her breakout performance in the Oscar-nominated film, “Star Trek Beyond,” in which she portrayed the fierce alien warrior, Jaylah.
What We Are Reading Today: South Sudan: The Untold Story
Author: Hilde F. Johnson
South Sudan was granted independence and became the world’s newest country. Yet just two-and-a-half years after this momentous decision, the country was in the grips of renewed civil war and political strife.
In this book, Hilde F. Johnson provides an unparalleled insider’s account of South Sudan’s descent from the ecstatic celebrations of July 2011 to the outbreak of the disastrous conflict in December 2013 and the early, bloody phase of the fighting.
Johnson’s personal and private contacts at the highest levels of government, accompanied by her deep knowledge of the country and its history, make this a unique eyewitness account of the turbulent first three years of the world’s newest – and yet most fragile – country.
REVIEW: ‘Squid Game’ enters a holding pattern
- Second season of the hit Netflix show feels tentative, ahead of its upcoming finale
LONDON: The success of “Squid Game” in 2021 made a second season an inevitability, rather than a mere possibility proffered by a hopeful epilogue scene. But because this smash-hit show came out of South Korea, there was also an optimistic air to its steadily approaching release — could this addictively bleak dystopian thriller sidestep a lot of the Hollywood pitfalls and deliver a second season that was at least the equal of the first?
Although it’s a sidestep of its own, the answer is… we’re not sure yet. And that’s because, although it’s billed as season two, these seven new episodes were shot back-to-back with season three (coming in 2025 and confirmed to be the last). So what you’re essentially getting here is the setup for the big finale still to come. That perhaps explains why, though the first season dropped viewers into the murderous titular competition pretty quickly, the actual ‘game’ of the second season of “Squid Game” doesn’t start until midway through the third episode. Before that, we’re reintroduced to main protagonist Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-Jae, still far and away the best thing about the show). Having won the first season’s brutal series of children’s games (for which the losers’ penalty is death), Gi-hun is spending his reward money trying to bring down the organizers of the competition, teaming up with season one detective Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) in an attempt to topple the shady cartel that is pressganging cash-strapped Koreans into murdering each other for money. When his plan to catch the game’s Front Man fails, he instead joins the latest intake, intent on helping the contestants escape with their lives.
It’s an odd choice to spend so long building up to the competition — and even dallying on whether it can be proved it even exists — when that’s what viewers are here for. Once the games get going, “Squid Game” is as breathless and shocking as ever, and with a new cast of characters, there are fresh backstories to mine and some pretty pointed social commentary on greed, capitalism and social care (Korean commentators have suggested that the subtitles miss a few of the nuances of the script, which may be why some of the satire seems a little on the nose). Perhaps acknowledging what audiences will remember, there’s also a few decent twists that deserve to remain a surprise.
But while season two of “Squid Game” is still great television, there’s no small amount of bloat here — and a sense of treading water for the final round still to come.
