- Title: JAPAN: The largest robot trade show
- Date: 4th December 2007
- Summary: ROBOT PATIENT BEING MOCK-TREATED BY DENTAL TRAINEE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) SIMROID ROBOT PATIENT SAYING: "It hurts." (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) DENTAL TRAINEE SAYING: "Are you alright ?" (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) SIMROID ROBOT PATIENT SAYING: "Yes." MORE OF ROBOT PATIENT BEING TREATED BY DENTAL TRAINEE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) DENTAL TRAINEE SAYING: "Are you alright ?" (SOUNDB
- Embargoed: 19th December 2007 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Industry
- Reuters ID: LVADG47X5HDOXUVR9EVPO8UHKGIQ
- Story Text: Finding a pingpong pal, staring at an android twitching in pain, and experiencing the sensation of breast feeding -- even if you are a man -- are among the activities visitors can enjoy at a current robot fair in Tokyo.
The showcase of around 1,000 futuristic industrial and service robots at the International Robot Exhibition showed that Japan continues to be hooked onto robots and is working to adapt the needs of the society that faces a declining population.
Employees of Yamazaki Co, an educational goods company, were busy nursing four baby robots who cried and burped at their booth. The robots were recently imported into Japan from the United States to teach students and soon-to-be parents how to take care of infants, each with a price tag of 68,000 yen (620 U.S. dollars).
Japanese women are expected to give birth to 1.32 children in their lives -- a decrease from 1.53 in 1991, government data showed.
Yamazaki spokeswoman said that even men can experience sensations of breast feeding by putting a small sensor device onto their chest, which the robot recognises as a nipple.
Nearby, visitors crowded around a Japanese robotics company Kokoro Co booth to follow the fate of a long-haired, fair-skinned female android lying on a dentist's chair. Simroid, the simulator android developed as a dummy patient for dental students by several companies with a 635,000 (USD) budget.
"That's hurt !" Simroid twitched and blinked when a student pressed the android's teeth too hard with a tool. Simroid's chest slightly moved up and down, as if she were breathing.
"Though it is a good point that you can make any mistakes, When dental trainees practice with a dummy that doesn't look human, they tend to treat it rudely and with neglect. But by using this realistic humanoid, they act as if treating a real human patient," said Satoshi Uzuka, an associate professor at the Nippon Dental University Hospital, said.
Non-Japanese manufacturers were also present at the fair, which expects to draw around 100,000 visitors in four days, indicating that Japan's 6.4 billion (USD) robotics market seems to have been successful in inspiring other countries. A Vietnamese ping-pong playing gizmo called Topio sometimes missing his shots and may be not so strong enough to beat its human counterpart, but the demonstrator from toy company Tosy said what was more important was that Topio made it all the way to Japan.
"VietNam has been one of the developing countries in robotic field.
But I would like to show to the world that we will be able to create this kind of futuristic robot," said Ho Vinh Hoang, Director General of tosy toy joint stock, Viet Nam's robot and toy maker. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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