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Picture this: You arrive at a client
company for a meeting. There, you are greeted and guided by an apparition vaguely
reminiscent of the gold-plated android from Star Wars. It sure beats
telephone-only receptions, doesn’t it?
In
Japan, where a graying population and falling birthrate are expected to lead to
significant labor shortages, this looks to be the future. Using robots to fill
some of the gaps is an attractive solution—they do not need salaries or
holidays, nor call in sick.
Enter wakamaru,
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’
canary-yellow little helper, released on the Japanese market in 2005. Designed
for interaction with humans, the three-foot robot can recognize the faces and voices
of eight people as well as some 10,000 words, and engage in simple conversations.
Importantly, it can operate, avoid obstacles and recharge independently.
In
mid-2007, MHI began renting out the robot to companies, hospitals, hotels and
events in need of a tireless and utterly reliable assistant.
As
evidenced by its performance at 30 events in Japan, including the 2005 World Expo
in Aichi, the robot is very useful for tasks like receiving and guiding visitors,
introducing exhibitions and providing information.
It
is also well-suited as a companion and caretaker for elderly people. Its body
houses a web camera with which hospital staff or relatives can keep an eye on
a patient, and a cell phone circuit that can call emergency services automatically
if a situation occurs. The robot can also remind patients to take their medicines.
Although they can (probably) never entirely
replace humans, robots will certainly have a role in society in the future. MHI’s
wakamaru is just the beginning… |
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