Tokyo Researchers Unveil Robotic Baby
Japan may have one of the lowest birthrates in the world, but researchers at a Japanese university are hoping that a new bionic baby will help change all of that.
The robotic infant is known as Yotaro and was developed by the robotics and behavior sciences laboratory of Tokyo’s University of Tsukuba to simulate the behavior of a real human child, creator Hiroki Kunimura told the AFP on Wednesday, March 10, 2010.
Kunimura calls Yotaro "a robot with which you can experience physical contact just like with a real baby and reproduce the same feelings." It comes complete with a touch-sensitive face, artificial tear ducts that release warm water when the robot is "crying" and a built-in speaker that can replicate the giggles of a happy baby. It can also change its facial expressions, sleep, sneeze, wiggle its arms and legs, and run a fever — though it has an unrealistically large cranium and does not appear to simulate the waste elimination process that is such a common part of a normal human infant’s daily routine.
Masatada Muramoto, a member of the research team that developed Yotaro, told the AFP’s Kimiko De Freytas-tamura that the baby was designed to "help young parents to learn about raising a baby" and does not believe the unusual appearance of the android will have a negative impact, stating "Japanese have always been comfortable with robots who are not seen as threats but as beings that have the potential to develop friendly relationships."
Yotaro has its work cut out for it. Approximately one-fifth of the population of Japan is at least 65 years of age, and that number is expected to jump to 40-percent within the next four decades. Meanwhile, according to United Nations projections, there are only 8.3 births per 1,000 people in the island nation, well below the worldwide average of 20.3 births per 1,000 residents.
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