Parents tending to an infant, well, not a human one. This is yotaro, baby robot. He giggles, sneezes, and even cries with a running nose, until you touch his warm silicon skin and calm him down.
A robot can be human, says yotaro project leader Hiroki Kunimura. But it’s great if this robot triggers human emotion so humans want to have their own baby.
Yotaro's emotions are a computer program. The images projected, the warm body temperature just warm water, all of these to make him as human-like and baby-like as possible, and get woman's biological clock ticking. The blast to you.
Japan has a major population problem, one of the world's lowest birth rates coupled with the fastest ageing population. Japan’s government desperate to boost more children is now paying families 150 dollars per month per child until he or she reaches high school. Have more children, make more money, say lawmakers. These university students believe robotic encouragement may work better than the government’s stipend.
Yotaro changes how I feel about babies, says Madoka Hirai. I am now paying more attention to babies on the street. Yotaro is not a complex robot, and after a few minutes, a tad redundant. But this robot already succeeds at least getting people thinking about babies. The first step they hope, and helping to solve a serious human dilemma.
Kyung Lah, cnn, Tsukuba, Japan.
