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Toyota's non-automotive venture aims to tap a demographic trend
that has put Japan at the forefront of aging among the world's
industrial nations, resulting in a population contraction
unprecedented for a country not at war, or racked by famine or
disease.
"He wobbles a bit, and this is meant to emulate a seated baby,
which hasn't fully developed the skills to balance itself," said
Fuminori Kataoka, Kirobo Mini's chief design engineer. "This
vulnerability is meant to invoke an emotional connection."
Toyota plans to sell Kirobo Mini, which blinks its eyes and
speaks with a baby-like high-pitched voice, for 39,800 yen
($392) in Japan next year. It also comes with a "cradle" that
doubles as its baby seat designed to fit in car cup holders.
The Toyota baby automaton joins a growing list of companion
robots, such as the upcoming Jibo, designed by robotics experts
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that resembles a
swiveling lamp, and Paro, a robot baby seal marketed by Japanese
company Intelligent System Co Ltd as a therapeutic machine to
soothe elderly dementia sufferers. Around a quarter of Japan's
population is over 65 with a dearth of care workers putting a
strain on social services.
Exacerbated by a reluctance to invite immigrants to bolster its
working-age population, Japan's demographic crunch shows little
sign of easing, with the government looking at robots to
replenish the thinning ranks of humans.
In the past half century births in Japan have halved to around a
million a year, according to government statistics, with one in
10 women never marrying. Births out of wedlock are frowned upon
in Japan and much less common than in Western developed nations.
Japan is already a leading user of industrial robots. It has the
second-biggest concentration after South Korea with 314 machines
per 100,000 employees, according to the International Federation
of Robots. New technology to help them better interact with
humans means robots have begun moving beyond factory floors into
homes, offices, shops and hospitals.
Kataoka said Toyota, which is investing heavily to develop
artificial intelligence for self-driving cars, sees Kirobo Mini
as a stepping stone to more advanced robots that will be able to
recognize and react to human emotions.
($1 = 101.5600 yen)
(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu; Writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by
Christopher Cushing)
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