Robots Entering Daily Life in Japan

USA Today is running a story about the emergence of robots in common aspects of life in Japan. Many simple yet social jobs are being filled by robots of increasing sophistication. The article suggests that Japanese culture is more open to such interaction than the majority of other cultures. Quoting: "For Japan, the robotics revolution is an imperative. With more than a fifth of the population 65 or older, the country is banking on robots to replenish the workforce and care for the elderly. The government estimates the industry could surge from about $5.2 billion in 2006 to $26 billion in 2010 and nearly $70 billion by 2025. Besides financial and technological power, the robot wave is favored by the Japanese mind-set as well. Robots have long been portrayed as friendly helpers in Japanese popular culture, a far cry from the often rebellious and violent machines that often inhabit Western science fiction."

Comments

I hate this characterization of the West

[MyNameIsFred]

...a far cry from the often rebellious and violent machines that often inhabit Western science fiction...

This type of statement is frequently used to explain this is why Western society doesn't embrace robots. In my view, this has very little to do with it. Western societies don't embrace robots because most forms of automated interaction have been vastly annoying. Who doesn't love calling a company and getting "Press 3 for customer service" and going thru ten menus before getting a human who can actually help. Who doesn't love help systems on computers that try to figure out what you're doing and help you. "It looks like you're trying to write a letter, may I help?" No! Just stop annoying me. How about voice recognition systems that are iffy at best. No I did not say "Got my first real sex dream, I was 5 at the time." I said, "Got my first real six string, bought it at the five-and-dime." The list goes no. Once more user friendly systems are developed I have no doubt that robots and similar systems will be widely accepted.

Re:I hate this characterization of the West

[ScrewMaster]

I tend to agree ... and it's not as if Japanese pop culture isn't filled with rebellious and violent material too, machines included. And there've been plenty of Western books and movies that have portrayed robots in a very positive light.

We also haven't embraced robots in the industrial sector to the extent that the Japanese have, and much of that has to do with the perception of them as human replacements, not because they're rebellious and violent. Honestly, it's the humans that often get rebellious and violent when faced with the prospect of losing their jobs to a machine.

Re:I hate this characterization of the West

[jcnnghm]

But if you look at actual robots, like the Roomba, you can see they're pretty readily embraced. I have both a Roomba and a Scooba, and I couldn't be happier with them. I was extremely skeptical when I got the Roomba, but I thought for $149 I could at least try it. Sit it down, press the button, go to work, come home to a clean floor, it doesn't get any easier. I know of at least 4 people that have bought these robots after I did, once they saw mine in action.

I think that people, as you were saying, are more concerned that the robots won't work well, than that they are dangerous. Once they know somebody with one or see one in action, it becomes a no brainer.

Re:I hate this characterization of the West

[bluehairedpete]

Also, in America we already have a large supply of cheap, exploitable labor via illegal Mexican immigrants. Japan's much stiffer immigration laws don't allow for this. As long as robots cost more than 5 bucks an hour, they will never make a dent in America.

Re:I hate this characterization of the West

[garett_spencley]

Assuming that you can consider the robots to be "life".

Re:I hate this characterization of the West

[Not_Wiggins]

More likely it is because the West (VERY specifically America) is a litigious society; before any company would introduce autonomous machinery (beyond the most basic that we have today) into the everyday life of Americans, they need to be darn sure that it won't kill/mame/hurt/offend anyone lest they be sued out of existence.

FP had an excellent link to a snowplowing robot. How long do you think that would be in operation before some kid threw himself under it and the place using the robot to clean the parking lot and the manufacturer of the robot got sued?

It's much more about cheap labor.

[HornWumpus]

If Japan had a Mexico on its southern borders they wouldn't be working on robots so much ether.

Give NAFTA another ten years and we will need robots for lots of stoop work as well. It's already starting with crop work (Grape harvesting is switching over to robots as we speak).

Re:It's much more about cheap labor.

[couchslug]

Machines are great for removing the need for stoop labor and the suffering that goes with it.

Note how efficient coal mining has become. Instead of many peons with picks and shovels (and a miner death rate like Chinas) we have a few skilled workers and many machines for both open and underground mining. There is every reason to remove people from the job except as supervisors.

Re:Children of Men

[ucblockhead]

There's a huge difference between few children and no children. The England of the book was despairing because the people new that with no children at all, there was no future and that those alive were just marking time until the eventual death of civilization. Very different for Japan, where there's every reason to expect that Japan will be a major world player for the next 100 years, 200 years, who knows how long? With 135 million people crammed in a country the size of the Japanese mainland, a drop in the population over time may actually improve matters for the people living there and the country as a whole.

Anyway, the point is that "Children of Men" wasn't about low birth rate. It is about being forced to confront your civilization having no future, and your life having no meaning.

Meet George Jetson

[bussdriver]

A cartoon for kids; the Flitnstones of the future helped promote robots and bring up issues to vast numbers of children in the west.

Jetson's job: To press a button and turn on the computer everyday.

Sometimes Jetson helps the computer make a decision, but one never gets the impression the computer actually needs his help; its like it is humoring him.

Jobs in that future world have been reduced to repair, office politics (including corporate espionage,) meaningless filler positions (like those created for a relative.) People consume but don't really produce anything.

Q: Don't the robots do work that americans will not do? You know, like the illegals do now? So then... do we have illegal automation problems coming our way?
(I realize that part of the immigrant debate is a false dilemma.)

Re:Shows the deep-seated hatred of foreigners....

[psychodelicacy]

I see all the anti-Japanese comments on this post, and it makes me wonder whether the Japanese are wrong to be wary of foreigners...

I find it sad that you take not speaking English as some kind of black mark. You'll find that most Americans and British people speak nothing other than their own language. Why should the Japanese, if they would rather not? Other countries are not there simply to service the needs of English-speaking tourists, and if you'd ever seen what a group of Englishmen in a sex shop looks like, you might sympathise with the Japanese for wanting to keep them out!

Re:Lessons from the answering machine

[hitmark]

meh, just get a mobile phone that shows unanswered numbers (or whatever name its attached to in contacts).

i still just hang up if i hit a answering machine, as more often then not the only message for it to deliver is "call me"...

Re:Japan has it right; The rest of the west is

[F�an�ro]

Look, America, and shortly European, jobs have migrated to China. Why? Because they have the yuan tied to the dollar. If we had a president with backbone, they would do something about it.

Dude, it is their currency, they can tie it to whatever arbitrary value they want. What is a president to do, tie the dollar to half the value of the yuan in revenge? Or double the value? Or simply invade?

Re:Lessons from the answering machine

[Stiletto]

I think the acceptance of answering machines has more to do with society's growing narcissistic belief that you must be "reachable" at all times.

I, for one, do not have an answering machine or use voice mail, and I generally won't leave a message for someone if the call doesn't go thorough.

Re:Shows the deep-seated hatred of foreigners....

[freedom_india]

policemen give passport checks to foreigners just walking down the street Exactly what happened to my friend's son at School.
US cops may use Tasers, but they treat all people the same.
Japanese have a siege mentality. They think if they let the guard down even once, the world's population would swamp them.
The world "alien" in japanese also is a bad word.

I live in China and would never claim it's an immigrant paradise, but people's attitudes and the government's implemented policies are far, far more accommodating than Japan's True. I visited china last year when my bank sent me for training.
I found them far more accomodating. I appreciated their culture, visited their museums, and generally found them polite and nice, although their English accent is difficult to understand.
And their cops don't randomly stop you.

Oh yes.

[lewp]

"People are still asking whether people really want robots running around their homes, and folding their clothes," said Damian Thong, senior technology analyst at Macquarie Bank in Tokyo.

I think I speak for most of the audience of this website when I say "ever since I was six."

Re:Those Japanese birth rates

[gullevek]

thats not true, there is just a small group ho is "ethnocentric". I live here for more than fives years and have not yet had direct contact with any of those "ethnocentric" groups. all Japs I met were absolutely friendly and open to foreigners.

Do you also believe all Germans are Nazis, all Muslims are Terrorists and all Americans are just fat and dumb?