Japan Creating New Breed of Robots
By GINNY PARKER
08:28 PM ET 09/26/99
TOKYO (AP) - The arena comes alive with cheers and shouts when the referee
signals for the bout to begin. Pushing and shoving, the wrestlers try furiously to drive
each other toward the edge of the ring. It's just like a real sumo tournament - except the
wrestlers are robots.
Japan, a global leader in industrial robotics, is now turning out mechanical
marvels that walk, talk and even swim - placing a new focus on robots that serve more as
companion or entertainer than servant.
``Robots used to just do work,'' says Fumio Kasagami, a robotics engineer at the
machinery-maker Daihen Corp. ``Now, they're communicating with people.''
Robots have been widely used in Japanese manufacturing since the 1970s, about a
decade after the technology was introduced here from the United States.
In 1997, there were 710,000 industrial robots being used in Japan, nearly 60
percent of the world's total. Today, even with the nation's flagging economy, a majority
of industrial robots used worldwide are still made here.
But ``bots'' are by no means reserved for the factory assembly line.
Robot competitions featuring everything from wrestling robots to computerized,
maze-running ``mice'' have become the latest craze among teen-agers and tech-junkies.
Robocon Magazine, a bimonthly publication listing contests and construction techniques
begun last year, claims a circulation of 55,000.
``The Japanese harbor good feelings about robots,'' Hitoshi Matsubara, chief
researcher at the national Electrotechnical Laboratory, wrote in a recent book on the
subject.
One sign of that is the huge popularity of cartoons about robots and the booming
sales in recent years of electronic pets like the Tamagotchi.
Though not as cuddly, robot pets are seen by many as having several distinct
advantages over the real thing: They never soil the carpets, instance, and if they die
they can always be rebooted. Matsubara foresees a future in which humanoid robots serve
not only as nurses, maids and bodyguards, but as ``partners who will play and talk with
us.''
In Japan, that future seems not far away.
The Japan Science and Technology Corp., a semiprivate research organization, has
announced a 77-inch-tall bot that can dance, beat a drum and learn other movements by
``watching'' through a pair of camera eyes.
Sony Corp. has released a programmable pooch, and two other companies have made
furry, computerized cats. Scientists at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have come up with a
lifelike robot fish.
Daihen has even introduced a computer-controlled robotic jester that tells jokes
for money at an amusement park. The new robots often are the whimsical spinoffs of
research projects aimed at more serious applications.
But Masahito Fujita, who works in the Trade Ministry's industrial machinery
department, says the creation of more lifelike, intelligent robots is a step toward making
machines capable of tough tasks that now only humans can do - such as caring for the
elderly and performing dangerous rescue work. Japan is still churning out new and improved
industrial robots. They're getting smaller - like an ant-sized robot used for exploring
pipes - and are more precise and sensitive enough to work with soft substances. ``We've
even got a robot that can pick up a block of tofu,'' Fujita says.
Advances in computers have been a major factor in the current popularization
trend. Computers and computer parts have become cheaper and better, allowing companies to
experiment more and to get robots out of the factory and into the public marketplace. The
government also has been helping. Last year, it spent $8.8 million on robot research and
development. In addition to urging schools to teach robotics, the government this spring
held a robot demonstration at the residence of the speaker of Japan's lower house of
Parliament, with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi in attendance.
``In the future, technology will support Japan,'' said Tetsuhisa Shirakawa of
Tokyo's Science and Technology Agency. ``We have to get young people interested in
science.''
So far, it seems to be working.
More and more kids are competing in robot competitions. Kids like the members of
the Robot Club at Tokyo's Machida Technical High, last year's champions in the All-Japan
Robot Sumo Tournament. The club's nine members spent every day of their summer vacation
training and honing their robots, sometimes staying to practice until late at night.
``Winning a contest with a machine you made yourself - that feels really good,''
says Makoto Onuki, a senior.
Some Recently Unveiled Robots
Some examples of new robots in Japan:
DOGBOT: No bigger than Chihuahua, packs power of personal
computer in sleek, gray body. Named Aibo, Japanese for ``pal,'' can beg, play with ball
and dance. Developed by Sony Corp.
BUDDHA BOT: Has Buddha-like head and tells jokes for money.
Will entertain for about a minute, but give it too little and it will berate you for being
stingy. Jointly developed by industrial robot-maker Daihen Corp. and entertainment company
Yoshimoto Kogyo Co.
ROBOT FISH: 23-inch silicon seabream weighs nearly 6 pounds,
same as real fish that size. Programmed by computer, swims around special tank guided by
clusters of sensors. Developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
ANT-SIZED ROBOT: Weighing less than
two-hundredths of an ounce,
box-shaped robot can lift objects twice as heavy as itself. Can be used to crawl around
thin pipes, inspect and even fix problems at power plants. Developed by Mitsubishi
Electric Corp., Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. and Matsushita Research Institute Tokyo.
