93 Robots The Next Generation

CHAPTER 1 Robots and Japan IF IN THE FUTURE YOU BUY A HOUSEHOLD ROBOT, THE CHANCES ARE IT WILL BE JAPANESE. Japan is famous for its long tradition of automatons, or machines that look and act like humans. In the 18th and 19th centuries, realistic human models, known as Karakuri ningyä, or "dolls that trick," were seen in homes, theaters, and religious ceremonies. The most common example was a small model of a woman in a kimono that served cups of tea to guests. These sophisticated dolls became highly popular. Interestingly, the great engineer Tanaka Hisashige, founder of the company that would eventually become TOSHIBA, actually started his career in the early 19th century as a maker of Karakuri dolls.

But Japan did not invent automatons. In fact, they have been with us for thousands of years. The word automaton comes from the Greek "it moves itself." The 1st-century Greek inventor Hero was famous for his automated machines, which included moving dancers and fountains. There are also many stories from ancient China of wooden automatons that sang, danced, or served drinks. Later, in the 12th century, the Islamic scholar A1-Jazarr wrote a whole book on mechanisms and automatons, which included clocks, animals, a waitress, and even a programmable musical band complete with flute-player and drummer! The English word robot comes from the Czech language and means "to serve." It was first used in the 1920s in a play by the Czech writer Karel Capek, titled R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). The play showed a futuristic world where human-like machines did all the work. In Capek's play these machines could think and feel, and eventually they rebelled against their human rulers.

By the 1920s in Japan robots were starting to appear in department stores. At first, however, they were not much more than complicated Karakuri. The first Japanese humanoid robot was created in 1928 and was called Gakutcnsoku, or "Learning from the Laws of Nature." It was a Buddha-like model that used air to move its head and hands. Its creator, the biologist Makoto Nishimura, believed these machines were part of nature. He is quoted as saying, "If one considers humans as the children of nature, artificial humans created by the hand of man are thus nature's grandchildren." His robot became a huge success and toured Asia and Europe. Nishimura's opinions highlight the Japanese attitude to machines and technology and the fascination they have with robots. This may be linked to Japan's Shinto religion, whose followers regard all things as having spirits. Tools and all objects made with tools possess their own special qualities, almost as if they were individuals. Certainly the Japanese view of robots is very different from the views traditionally held in Western cultures, which are often suspicious of robots.

The Japanese look upon robots as things of interest and beauty, designed to help humans and make our lives better. This view was most famously expressed in the 1951 Manga comic, Tetsuwan Atomu. Atomu, or Astro Boy, as he was later known in the West, was the first major robot character to show robots as friendly and helpful. The Japanese love of comic book robot characters, together with the country's fast increasing electronics industry, meant that by the 1980s Japan had become a world leader in robot research and production. Today, many of the world's industrial robots work in factories in Japan. As well as the typical industrial robots, many robots are designed simply as toys or for entertainment. Animal robots, dancing robots, car-driving robots, even piano- playing robots are all made and sold in Japan. And as technology improves the differences between humans and machines may become increasingly blurred.

CHAPTER 2 Robots and Recreation FOR THE JAPANESE, ROBOTS ARE A GREAT SOURCE OF ENTERTAINMENT. Technically, a robot is any kind of autonomous self-controlled or remote-controlled machine, often used in factories for dangerous or precision work. But when we think of a robot, we often imagine a machine with a recognizably human face and figure. These robots are called androids (from the Greek for man, andr-) and are specifically designed to have characteristics that make them more attractive to humans. Japan has a keen interest in humanoid models. Karakuri dolls, for example, were seen as more than models; they were respected as an art form. The Japanese fascination with robots meant that in the late 20th century, when huge improvements were being made in motors and computing, many electronics companies began to design humanoid robots that could interact with people on a social level.

The first entertainment robot with commercial success was not a humanoid, however, but a robot dog. Designed as a toy pet and launched in 1999, Sony's AIBO quickly became popular worldwide. The AIBO (Japanese for "companion") could walk, could see using cameras, and had special software that allowed it to develop from puppy to adult, learning to play and understand up to 100 voice commands. Furthermore, special programmable software allowed owners to change their AIBO's personality and behavior. Teams of AIBOs have even played at the annual RoboCup, a soccer tournament where all the competitors must be autonomous robots.