The Japanese robot revolution: with an aging population and a looming labor shortage, Japanese scientists are pushing hard to develop advanced androids and integrate them into human society.

Star Wars was--and remains--a cultural phenomenon for many reasons, but one of its most striking aspects in 1977 was its depiction of a human society permeated by robots. And not just any robots, but humanoid robots. In the original Star Wars movie, filmmaker George Lucas envisioned robots, or "droids," many of them bipedal and looking in a general sense like humans, as being of vital importance in helping maintain the material infrastructure of society.

Science fiction was far from reality in 1977. But in the last few years, robotics has finally begun to take visible steps toward realizing Lucas' vision. Today several Japanese firms, including such recognizable companies as Honda, Toyota, and Mitsubishi, are introducing prototype personal robots that look the part of C3PO, Lucas' "protocol droid."

Embracing Technology

After World War II, Japanese industry was in tatters with seemingly little hope of being able to compete in a future marketplace dominated by American manufacturing muscle. According to Timothy Hornyak, author of Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots, the Japanese saw technology as "a way to save their own country from ruin--from sliding backwards into being a colony of these imperial powers who were circling the country like sharks." The Japanese, always confident and self-reliant, looked to technology as a means of independently rebuilding their nation. "They did not develop this latent technophobia that you see in the West," Hornyak told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The Japanese continue to believe that advanced technology is the key to maintaining the stability of Japanese society. Presently, Japan has one of the world's lowest birth rates and some of the world's longest life spans. Demographically, this means that Japan's population is aging and facing a manpower shortage, as well as a need for personal assistants and companions for a graying population. According to The Economist, it is expected that the Japanese population will shrink over the next four decades. For many in Japan, robots are being viewed as the means to head off this looming demographic crisis. "With Japan's aging population, we need robots that can alleviate the burden of human tasks," says Toshihiko Morita, director of Fujitsu's Autonomous System Laboratory.

Concern for the well-being of an aging population is what spurred the creation of PARO. Developed by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), PARO is described as a "mental commitment robot" designed to provide comfort and companionship to those who are lonely or shut in. The device is designed to look like a seal or a cat and looks more like a toy than a serious piece of technology. But it represents a serious step toward developing robots that interact with people in a naturalistic manner. A video distributed by AIST shows the robots interacting with people and animals and describes their intended use. "Mental commit robots," the AIST narrator says, "will enrich human life by providing joy and comfort through physical interaction.... The robot's shape, movement, sound, and texture adequately stimulate the human sense so that the human will feel affection and comfort towards the robot."

As interesting as PARO is in its ability to form emotional bonds with people, the truly revolutionary nature of Japanese robotics is demonstrated in the advanced capabilities of ASIMO, the humanoid, bipedal robot created by Honda. An amazing leap forward in technology, it is difficult to do justice to ASIMO in writing. The four-foot tall, 119 pound robot must be seen to be believed, and Honda, fortunately, has provided plenty of video on its website. The videos show ASIMO running, greeting people, pushing a cart, and exercising, among other things. With ASIMO, Japanese robotics technology has nearly matched Star Wars levels of sophistication.

According to Honda, ASIMO, which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, is no mere marionette, but features impressive levels of artificial intelligence. According to Honda, ASIMO "is capable of interpreting the postures and gestures of humans and moving independently in response. ASIMO's ability to interact with humans has advanced significantly--it can greet approaching people, follow them, move in the direction they indicate, and even recognize their faces and address them by name. Further, utilizing networks such as the Internet, ASIMO can provide information while executing tasks such as reception duties. ASIMO is the world's first humanoid robot to exhibit such a broad range of intelligent capabilities."

And ASIMO has a job. Honda began using ASIMO in its new office in the city of Wako, Japan, in the spring of this year. According to Satoshi Shigemi, the leader of the Honda team that is developing ASIMO, "The level of Asimo's capability was just good enough to entertain people on the stage in the past, but the new Asimo can work at places closer to us." According to Shigemi, "The new Asimo can perform the task of a receptionist or information guide automatically." As impressive as this is, the ultimate aim is to integrate robots like ASIMO into human society. "Honda is aiming to create a humanoid robot that can help people and live together with people," Shigemi said.

A Robot Revolution

ASIMO is not the only humanoid robot that Japanese scientists and engineers have constructed. If ASIMO looks like it would fit in with the droids from Star Wars, Repliee Q1Expo looks like it took its inspiration from Data, the Star Trek android that wanted to be human. Like Data, Repliee Q1Expo looks human, more so than the fictional Data. The robot's designer and builder, Professor Ishiguro, told BBC News: "I have developed many robots before, but I soon realised the importance of its appearance. A human-like appearance gives a robot a strong feeling of presence." While Repliee Q1Expo lacks ASIMO's advanced bipedal mobility capabilities, it is far more human-like in appearance, which may allow it to interact with people more effectively. "Repliee Q1Expo can interact with people," Ishiguro said. "It can respond to people touching it. It's very satisfying, although we obviously have a long way to go yet."

In many ways, robotics is now at a point where the personal computer was in the late 1960s. It is on the cusp of a revolution. After watching ASIMO in action, it doesn't take much to imagine the robot performing chores around the house. Is it snowing? Send ASIMO out to shovel the driveway. Hungry? Have ASIMO prepare a meal. Someday, maybe just 20 or 30 years from now according to Honda, we'll all wonder how we managed before the Robot Revolution.

RELATED ARTICLE: Androids & immigration.

Robots have already had a tremendous economic impact, but mostly in large-scale manufacturing facilities. Automakers have long used robotics to speed the assembly of cars, for instance. But like the computer revolution before it. the rebel revolution will occur when every family has a robot in the house. This, however, presents a challenge to the United States. It appears that the United States will have to fight demographic trends if it is to keep up with the rest of the world in robotics.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and in Japan, where a significant population crisis looms, robots are seen as an important means of replacing laborers who are expected to he lost through aging. Others hope that robots will he able to play an important role in caring for the elderly and sick. According to The Economist though, some have suggested an alternative strategy: immigration. "Many workers from low-wage countries are eager to work in Japan," The Economist reported in 2005. "The Philippines, for example, has over 350,000 trained nurses, and has been pleading with Japan--which accepts only a token few--to let more in. Foreign pundits keep telling Japan to do itself a favour and make better use of cheap imported labour. But the consensus among Japanese is that visions of a future in which immigrant workers live harmoniously and unobtrusively in Japan are pure flinty. Making humanoid robots is clearly the simple and practical way to go."

The West has taken the other approach. In Europe and especially in the United States, the response to a perceived shortage of low-wage labor to perform repetitive tasks has been to dip into the pool of immigrant (and in many cases illegal immigrant) laborers. In The New York Sun for September 22, writer Diana Furchtgott-Roth repeated the old allegation that immigrants do jobs Americans won't. "Low-skill immigrants come to be janitors and housekeepers, jobs native-born Americans typically don't want," Furchtgott-Roth wrote. But what low-skill immigrants really do is perform these jobs at artificially low rates of compensation. Because of the availability of such cheap labor, there is little demand for new technological innovations. Cheap labor is easy. When there is plenty to be had, why spend the money, time, and effort at devising faster, more efficient mechanized means of production? In the choice between cheap labor and advanced technology like robotics, America seems bent on choosing cheap labor. It's a choice the United Stales may come to regret if Japan, as seems likely, succeeds in developing the robotics technology of the future.--DENNIS BEHREANDT