JAPAN: WORLD'S MOST ADVANCED ROBOTS PARTICIPATE IN CYBORG RAVE AHEAD OF CELEBRATIONS FOR ROBOT ASTRO BOY'S BIRTHDATE

Record ID: 861347

  • Title: JAPAN: WORLD'S MOST ADVANCED ROBOTS PARTICIPATE IN CYBORG RAVE AHEAD OF CELEBRATIONS FOR ROBOT ASTRO BOY'S BIRTHDATE
  • Date: 2nd April 2003
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) TOSHITADA DOI, SENIOR MANAGING DIRECTOR OF SONY CORP, AND FOUNDER OF ROBODEX, SAYING: "In some part, robots are inferior to animals, but they also have something which is superior to animals. Therefore what we do is to make the most of these abilities and by improving on their intelligence, we can give joy to people and enable robots to become good partners with human beings"
  • Embargoed: 17th April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: YOKOHAMA, JAPAN
  • City:
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Politics,Royalty,Science / Technology,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA6SXXMNFNOHQ9EH0GEXNC25NOY
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: The world's fastest, coolest and most advanced robots
    are participating in a cyborg rave ahead of celebrations for
    the birthdate of the Japan's most famous and fictitious robot
    - Astro Boy.



    Robots are learning their steps really fast.

    In the latest Robodex exhibition, held in Yokohama, Japan,
    thousands of cyborgs were on display.

    There they showed they no longer plod along in slow
    deliberate steps -- instead they proved how they have evolved
    into fast-walking, fast-talking and fast-developing machines.

    From the tiny "Monsieur II-P" that sits on a person's palm
    to handy-man "HRP-1S" who can do the housework, the future is
    at hand.

    And robots are no longer the insensitive heavy metal types
    they were once stereotyped to be. The latest 'Robovie IIs' can
    feel through warm, rubbery skin and coo with joy upon being
    stroked.

    Sony, with its troupe of dancing robots, leads the way in
    what could be called 'feel good robots'.

    "In some part, robots are inferior to animals, but they
    also have something which is superior to animals. Therefore
    what we do is to make the most of these abilities and by
    improving on their intelligence, we can give joy to people and
    enable robots to become good partners with human beings,"
    explained Sony's Toshitada Doi.

    Much of Japan's fascination with robots can be traced to
    its adoration with Atom boy, known to most outside Japan as
    Astroboy.

    In fact, much of the exhibition is dedicated to the super
    robot and its fictional birth date of April 7th, 2003.

    At the beginning of the cartoon series, first illustrated
    by Japan's Osamu Tezuka, the small but powerful cyborg was
    given life by a mad scientist hoping to replace his dead son.

    Many Japanese hoped to emulate him now and create the
    first real Astroboy.

    Experts say the robot industry is likely to reach 3
    trillion yen (25.2 billion U.S. dollars) by 2010 and by 2020
    be as big as Japan's automobile industry.
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