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Japanese Build Robot Toddlers

Posted by timothy on from the soft-spot-is-not-the-reset-hole dept.

kgeiger writes "The Japanese birth dearth may be crashing their population and rendering kids a rarity, but never fear! Robotics researchers at Osaka University are building robot babies to learn how people are supposed to interact with young children. For anyone who has raised real kids, cyberkiddies would seem a cheat unless they come with "why? Why? WHY?" and "No!" infinite loops and no OFF switch."

4 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. Improvement, not duplication by Angst+Badger · · Score: 4, Funny

    For anyone who has raised real kids, cyberkiddies would seem a cheat unless they come with "why? Why? WHY?" and "No!" infinite loops and no OFF switch.

    Like cars are cheating if they don't eat hay and crap in the street.

    --
    Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
    1. Re:Improvement, not duplication by ddd0004 · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's funny. My car is essentially crap in the street.

  2. It won't work... by jason18 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How can you study this kind of thing using robots? No matter what you do, you can't simulate small children well enough to make people act the same around the robot as a real kid. It's a nice concept, but it'll never get anything done except entertain. Plus I bet we'll never hear about this again in the US.

  3. This complicates things... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now I don't know whether I should be stocking up on EMP weapons or coathangers in order to battle the robot uprising. Thanks a lot, Japan.