Japan has become the world’s senior citizen due to decades of improving life expectancies matched with falling birth rates. An aging population can have dire implications, such as a shrinking labor pool. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is introducing new remedies to address these challenges, including a “robot revolution,” a plan to quadruple the size of the robotics industry by encouraging automation in everything from manufacturing plants to education to care for the elderly. Below you can read about three recently introduced Japanese robots.

A Robear might sound like a new toy from Hasbro, but, it’s the creation of Japanese researchers from the Robot Sensor Systems Research Team at the Riken-SRK Collaboration Center for Human-Interactive Robot Research, led by Toshiharu Mukai. Using advanced technology to power its intelligent vision, flexible movement, and giant arms, these robots are designed with the vision of helping make elderly care much easier in the future. With Japan facing a swiftly shrinking population at a time when the demand for elderly will only grow in the decades to come, these researchers believe that the answer to elderly care might lie with robotic assistive technology.

Robear has been designed with the elderly in mind to help them stand up or gently lift them from a bed into a wheelchair. Such lifting requires torque sensors and smart rubber carry out a few tasks but to do them with minimal friction and maximal efficiency. Robear was also designed to make a warm impression and the robotic bear will greet someone with a Japanese style bow and then a wave.

The drawback? The current cost of the Robear prototype is estimated to be between $168,000 and $252,000, but the hope is that the cost can come down to more reasonable levels in the decades to come.

Nao is another robot from Japan that takes a unique twist as an educational learning tool. Designed by Fumihide Tanaka, information and systems associate professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tsukuba for SoftBank Robotics, Nao was originally built to help students learn English vocabulary by serving as a classroom “dunce” who commonly makes mistakes. It is the students who must teach the less intelligent robot, and in turn reinforce their own learning.

Nao falls into the category of “care-receiving robots”, which require human companions to pay attention and show concern. With Tanaka’s background at Sony as a former research engineer developing both entertainment and educational robots, he believed that a care-receiving robot would make an effective educational tool as children learn by teaching others. Research would later prove this to be the case. Preschool children would spend more time rather than less when Nao was programmed to make mistakes rather than when their new friend answered every question correctly.

Tanaka has also gone on to supervise the development of Pepper, a “social robot” that can be used commercially to fill labor roles and on an individual basis to alleviate loneliness and provide connection.

Launched by SoftBank and Aldebaran Robotics SAS on June 5, 2014, Pepper is being used by numerous retail companies in Japan and Europe as a new and innovative way of welcoming and informing customers coming into their store locations. Additionally, in Japan, consumers can buy Pepper for their homes at a cost of just under $2000 for the unit but it comes with a subscription contract for the network data plan and equipment insurance. Pepper also made a limited US debut two years ago.

 

At four-feet tall, Pepper scoots around on treads and possesses a human shape and is programmed to be kindly and endearing. Pepper is considered a “social robot” and can perceive emotions and interacts with humans using natural communicative cues, such as hand gestures, tone of voice, and different movements. The robot is designed to be able to adjust his responses based on the mood of the person with whom he’s interacting. The iPad-style screen on her chest shows visual information. SoftBank, the Japanese mobile giant, is betting on Pepper one day becoming a kind of domestic personal assistant robot.

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Sources:

Byford, S. (2015, April 28). This cuddly Japanese robot bear could be the future of elderly care. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2015/4/28/8507049/robear-robot-bear-japan-elderly

Farivar, C. (2016, August 14). Pepper, the 4-foot-tall robot that “reads emotions” makes her US debut. Retrieved from https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/08/pepper-the-4-foot-tall-robot-that-reads-emotions-makes-her-us-debut/

Reynolds, I. (2017, May 16). Japan’s shrinking population [Blog post}. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/japan-s-shrinking-population

Scutti, S. (2018, September 19). The ‘dunce robots’ of Japan will help children learn. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/19/health/japan-dunce-educational-robots-intl/index.html