Developing Robots for Daily Life PDF

1 A robot vaguely resembling a kangaroo will begin stocking sandwiches, drinks and ready meals o...

1 A robot vaguely resembling a kangaroo will begin stocking sandwiches, drinks and ready meals on shelves at a Japanese convenience store in a test its maker, Telexistence, hopes will help trigger a wave of retail automation. 3 Following that trial, store operator Family mart says it plans to use robot workers at 20 stores around Tokyo. At first, people will operate them remotely – until the machines' artificial 2 intelligence (AI) can learn to mimic human movements. 4 Based on the technology available now, engineers working on elderly-care robots should focus on making simple devices that will integrate smoothly into care facilities rather than on flashy ones that are impressive but expensive and impractical. Ultimately, even Japanese may prefer to have their human needs 5 handled by actual humans.  6 Industrial robots played a major role in the economic revival of Japan during the sixties. Instead of easing strict immigration policies to help with the shortage of labour, they introduced widespread automation through robotics. After automating its own manufacturing lines, boosting efficiency and production, Japan became a major exporter of industrial robots to other countries. 8 The West’s fear of robots was crystallised most powerfully in the Terminator series, in which the defence-computer network SkyNet gains self-awareness, humans try to shut One human could control several robots in different locations. The concept is it off, and SkyNet uses androids called Terminators to called telerobotics or teleoperation, and it has been dramatized in dystopian sci-fi successfully wage war on them. films. Remote-controlled bomb disposal robots have been around for decades but 7 Meanwhile Japan, less teleoperated devices are now doing more than ever before - including delivering troubled by fears about a food to people's homes in the Covid-19 era. robot uprising, is eager to 9 use robots to make up for However, when it comes to handling and moving objects in shops or warehouses, an acute labour shortage he says robots are a very long way from matching human skills. and handle tasks like "The reason for that is that robotic hands are not as dextrous as human hands," he taking care of the explains. "We can pick up just about any object and manipulate it. country’s fast-growing "We know what pressure to apply, how not to break objects and so on." elderly population.