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Japanese Robot Guards to Patrol Shops And Offices
Clarinase writes "Robots will be patrolling Japan's streets, offices, shopping malls and other public places for the safety of the people. Guardrobo D1 is equipped with a camera and sensors to detect any signs of trouble. It will then alert the human guards via radio with camera footage of possible troubles. This is one of the technological advancement vital to the aging population of Japan, where 1 in 5 Japanese are over 65 years old."
It's guarding shopping malls? That means it's guarding shoes.
Who cares about shoes?
GRAB THE ROBOT!
Deinjah wiru robeen-san! Deinjah!
what with a name like Guardrobo.
But does it have frickin' laser beams?
ED-209: Please put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply.
Shopper: Wtf?
[ED-209 blows shopper away.]
I'm sure that'd go over real well.
Informatus Technologicus
Guardrobo D1 is equipped with a camera and sensors
A camera is a sensor. This should have been written as " Guardrobo D1 is equipped with a camera and other sensors."
"Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
Old Lady #1: When my ex-husband passed away, the insurance company said his policy didn't cover him. Old Lady #2: They didn't have enough money for the funeral. Old Lady #3: It's so hard nowadays, with all the gangs and rap music.. Old Lady #1: What about the robots? Old Lady #4: Oh, they're everywhere! Old Lady #1: I don't even know why the scientists make them. Old Lady #2: Darren and I have a policy with Old Glory Insurance, in case we're attacked by robots. Old Lady #1: An insurance policy with a robot plan? Certainly, I'm too old. Old Lady #2: Old Glory covers anyone over the age of 50 against robot attack, regardless of current health. [ cut to Sam Waterston, Compensated Endorser ] Sam Waterson: I'm Sam Waterston, of the popular TV series "Law & Order". As a senior citizen, you're probably aware of the threat robots pose. Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel. Well, now there's a company that offers coverage against the unfortunate event of robot attack, with Old Glory Insurance. Old Glory will cover you with no health check-up or age consideration. [ SUPER: Limitied Benefits First Two Years ] You need to feel safe. And that's harder and harder to do nowadays, because robots may strike at any time. [ show pie chart reading "Cause of Death in Persons Over 50 Years of Age": Heart Disease, 42% - Robots, 58% ] And when they grab you with those metal claws, you can't break free.. because they're made of metal, and robots are strong. Now, for only $4 a month, you can achieve peace of mind in a world full of grime and robots, with Old Glory Insurance. So, don't cower under your afghan any longer. Make a choice. [ SUPER: "WARNING: Persons denying the existence of Robots may be Robots themselves. ] Old Glory Insurance. For when the metal ones decide to come for you - and they will.
Disconnect and self-destruct, one bullet at a time.
First, yes they are longer lived than Americans. Second, the birth rate has been much lower than in the U.S. Additionally, immigratin is slower to Japan so there are fewer foreigners upsetting the averages.
Read Heinlein's 1953 Revolt in 2100, now more than ever.
http://www.robotcombat.com/video_oldglory_hi.html
Because when a society's young population (especially women) get educated and have decent jobs and all sorts of modern shit to play with they no longer want to be burdened with 1 or more children. As such birth rates drop and a larger % of your population is old people. same thing is happening in the US, we just have ass-tons of immigrants (legal and otherwise) who for the most part have little education(less education = less use of birth control.) and little money. They fuck like rabbits and have 12 kids. They cover the difference in this country.
That we should be building police robots if we don't know how ice melts. That's a bit tricky.
RTFA again for the best results.
How come there are so many more old people in Japan as compared to the US?
I think the bigger question is: Why do they feel that they're going to need more security guards to protect possession/people from old people? Unless the robots are designed to sacrifice themselves to crazy old people driving through buildings I don't think they'd do any good.
They wanted to use "Robocop", but realized the MPAA would probably send in their special forces.
So this undoubtably-expensive robot is a substitute for... multiple motion-sensing cameras? And a fire alarm?
What's the point in making it a robot? Why not just add the radio alert feature to the already-existing security systems and add a few more cameras?
If it ain't broke, it needs more features!
Now if they could only make guard robots that look like hot robotic maids...
"This is one of the technological advancement vital to the ageing population of Japan, where 1 in 5 Japanese are over 65 years old."
Surely if 1 in 5 Japanese are over 65 years old, there's going to be an equally proportional reduction in crime?
--
Toby
Dont they know that robots eat old peoples medicine for food?
air and light and time and space
If a robot falls over in a shopping mall and none of the old people can hear it, does it still make a sound?
If you don't want crime to pay, let the government run it.
*Thief enters mall.*
*Thief notices $50 shoes.*
*Thief alterted by $10,000 robot.*
*Thief steals robot AND shoes.*
Like most developed countries there is a declining birthrate. The situation is made worse by several things:
1. Japan really really doesn't like allowing immigration.
2. There is still very old-fashioned treatment of women. This means that they underutilise 50% of their population. However, women in Japan are becoming more and more disastified with becoming a housewife and *want* careers. However, in Japan if you are a career woman and you have a baby, you are practically forced to quit. As one of my female Japanese co-workers (I work in Japan and am female) said to me recently "Back in your home country you mean women can have children and keep working?" In Japan women are quite literally forced to choose between having children and having a career. Having both is not possible. And many women choose career which further depresses the childbirth rate.
On another matter, if people think female participation in technology and scientific related fields is low in the US or Australia it's got nothing on Japan. Often we are the only females in the entire room/building. In fact my co-worker said this was the first time she had another female co-worker ever...
A weird thing in Japan right now which I see in the news is that apparently Japan has been discriminating against young people in jobs to maintain job security for "Baby boomers" (which is the reverse of the Western world). So young people have not been offered full-time positions. However now the baby boomers will be retiring starting in 2007 and employers are panicking because they havn't built up the structure of younger workers with the experience and know-how to step into the soon-to-be vacant positions.
I live in Japan. I shop in Japan. I would not be surprised to hear that half of the people "working" here are actually robots. They bow mechanically and emit a series of programmed sentences which *will* be completed regardless of whether your shirt is on fire or not. They genuinely try to help you to the best of their abilities. But if you confront them with something they are not expecting ("where are the bean sprouts?"--and it turns out the bean sprouts have been moved), they freeze. As the moments stretch out to minutes, you try to discern a human presence behind the impenetrable facade, but all you will get is a hand clasped to the back of the neck, and the famous sound of sucking wind.
That said, however, the other half (remember, I'm only complaining about half of the workers) will make your day better and your troubles go away. You know--like a *good* robot would.
But driving over here--the machines *have* taken over...
Don't trust anyone under thirty.
If 20% of the Japanese population is over 65 I would say there's a pretty large labor pool for all the mall security jobs. I'm not sure the robot can compete.
cos then we'd have to call Yoshimi when things go wrong
Who's your user, program?
However, in Japan if you are a career woman and you have a baby, you are practically forced to quit. As one of my female Japanese co-workers (I work in Japan and am female) said to me recently "Back in your home country you mean women can have children and keep working?" In Japan women are quite literally forced to choose between having children and having a career. Having both is not possible.
Truly, I don't mean to be a troll, but there could be a good reason behind that. I see enough career moms and dads who need to fulfill an idiotic ideal and have children, leaving them to be raised by daycare and television. A few years down the line, they find the gall to piss and moan that their own children are like strangers to them and they can't relate or communicate.
Raising a child is a full-time job, contrary to what some people would like to think. Career parents seem to want all the advantages of the two situations without any of the responsibilities that go with them.
Granted, in a lot of cases it's not financially feasible to have at least one parent dedicated to child-rearing. If at all possible, I don't think these people should be having children in the first place.
Why start something you don't have the time or resources to see through?
Coolness aside, how is this better than blanketing the area with regular security cameras?
Old Man #1: Tomonaga-san, can you spare 1,000,000,000 yen?
Old man #2: Matsuda-san, you need only ask; I am a loan officer in the developed world's most poorly regulated banking system!
Young people are just the ugly face of New Japan. The real crime here is grey.
Note: I don't hate Japan or Japanese. But there are some things I don't much care for--bovine complacency in the face of incompetence, and the "styles" the young folks are wearing.
Don't trust anyone under thirty.
How does this compare with the rest of the world? (Especially reasonably well-off countries.)
If a population had an average life expectency of 81, which probably isn't too far off, and if people's ages were evenly distributed, then 1 in 5 people over 65 doesn't seem too unusual.
Well, people's ages aren't evenly distributed. Especially with the post-war baby boomers growing up, though, I would have thought that a lot of countries would either be in similar positions, perhaps even worse positions, or not far off it.
ex-ter-mi-nate ex-ter-mi-nate ex-ter-mi-nate
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Thank you Captain Obvious.
zosxavius photography
OK, so how is a robot that travels around with a camera, spots suspicious activity, and calls the police more cost effective than three times as many fixed-point cameras tied to the same back end computer logic that can call the police?
I mean it's cool and all, but wouldn't just hooking the security cameras that we have now (at least in the US) up to the same trouble-spotting algorithm be much easier and cheaper and do the same thing?
--GrouchoMarx
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I watched this robot on a Japanese morning news show about a week ago, and I have to admit, it's laughable at best and funny as hell in reality. They put it in a demo mode to show what it does when it detects a theft. It kept following one of the hosts, saying "Thief!" in Japanese at random intervals. Being only two or three feet high doesn't help its case.
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Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
http://www.robotcombat.com/oldglory1.html