Monday, December 30, 2002		Feature

Want a child? Try robot first

An upgraded model of Honda Motor Co.’s walking robot Asimo raises its hand to greet an unidentified Honda staff during a press unveiling at the Japanese automaker’s headquarters in Tokyo.

IT'S kind of a familiarisation programme. Think of it. Couples uncertain over a "kid or not" question may in the near future be able to have a trial run with a child-like robot provided they can shell out Aus $ 80,000. This will be a Sony gift.

The Japanese technology giant wants to follow up its success story of the Aibo robotic dog with a 60cm humanoid robot called Sony Dream Robot, SDR4X. It will cost roughly "the same as a luxury family car," between Aus $ 1,00,000 and 80,000, reports The Age.

Like the Aibo, the first biped can interact with its "carers", expressing emotions through a combination of words, songs and body language. It can also recognise up to 10 human faces and voices and adapt its behaviour according to the way it is treated. The projected date of birth is April 7, 2003.

But if Sony fails to arrive, arch-rival Honda might appear on the stage with its advanced prototype of a humanoid robot, dubbed Asimo, now utilised to help sell cars in its flagship Tokyo showroom.

Sony’s move from pet replacement to child replacement could be contentious. Some researchers believe that children in particular are at risk of developing emotional attachments that the robots cannot live up to.

Researchers at Washington University and Purdue University are studying the impact of life-mimicking toys on young children and the elderly. In the latter case, they are looking at whether the Aibo dogs could have the same mental health benefits as real pets.

"In the coming years robotic pets will become more technologically sophisticated, more animal-like," says researcher Batya Friedman. "As they do, our research suggests that they will evoke more and more psychological responses from humans. Is that a good thing?"

Rodney Brooks, the Australian-born head of the artificial intelligence lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, believes an affordable child-replacement is a long way off. "It is only Japanese companies that are pushing humanoid robots as commercial products and I do not yet see the cost-effectiveness of them; certainly not for the next 10 years, and maybe not for at least 50 years." — ANI