NAO

NAO or nao may refer to:

Organisations

Science and technology

People

Places

Other uses

A9 (band)

A9, previously known as Alice Nine (アリス九號., originally stylized as alicenine.), is a Japanese visual kei rock band formed in Tokyo in 2004. A9 was a part of PS Company until 2014. The band had King Records as its record label until 2010, when they joined Tokuma Japan. Then, in 2013, they joined Universal Music Group's Nayutawave Records.

The group has released six full-length records, some of which were distributed in Europe by CLJ Records, along with several EPs, singles, and DVDs. In 2015, they shortened their name to A9.

History

2004–2006: Conception and early work

In August 2004, Alice Nine formed after the disbandment of the band Givuss, and the band's vocalist, Shou, and guitarist Tora continued on to search for members to form a new band. Saga, the bassist for the band Delta Ark, and Nao, drummer for the bands Fatima and RusH, were also seeking bandmates as well, and the four members eventually joined together. Hiroto was the last member to join after Shou, Tora, Saga, and Nao spotted him at a performance with his band at the time, Baquepia. Shou explains that the "Alice" in the band's name was something that they believed sounded "very visual kei" to them, while the "Nine" is written in kanji and represents their origins as a Japanese band.

Nao (robot)

Nao (pronounced now) is an autonomous, programmable humanoid robot developed by Aldebaran Robotics, a French robotics company headquartered in Paris. The robot's development began with the launch of Project Nao in 2004. On 15 August 2007, Nao replaced Sony's robot dog Aibo as the robot used in the RoboCup Standard Platform League (SPL), an international robot soccer competition. The Nao was used in RoboCup 2008 and 2009, and the NaoV3R was chosen as the platform for the SPL at RoboCup 2010.

Several versions of the robot have been released since 2008. The Nao Academics Edition was developed for universities and laboratories for research and education purposes. It was released to institutions in 2008, and was made publicly available by 2011. Various upgrades to the Nao platform have since been released, including the 2011 Nao Next Gen and the 2014 Nao Evolution.

Nao robots have been used for research and education purposes in numerous academic institutions worldwide. As of 2015, over 5,000 Nao units are in use in more than 50 countries.