SunWuKong
10-25-2002, 12:35 PM
In Japan, happiness is a warm robot
By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO - One of Japan's top-dog technological breakthroughs - the robot canine - and other robotic pets are being hailed by doctors and caregivers for bringing companionship and fun into the lives of the country's old and infirm, as well as sick children.
Keiko Ogasawara spent more than US$2,000 in January to buy her husband an Aibo, Sony's robot dog that has taken Japan by storm since it was first released in June 1999.
"I bought the robot to keep my husband company. He often complains he is lonely as I return late at night after work," says Ogasawara, 42, who is in charge of exports at a trading company.
Sony's Aibo is the world's first commercially available robot dog. The initial release of 5,000 units sold out in a blink in Japan and the United States. Since then, the robot dogs, which bark, whine, and wag their tails as they walk across the floor, have been produced in many models.
The newest version, the Aibo ERS-220 series released last November, "understands" about 50 words and some emotions that allow interaction with their owners.
"The popularity of pet robots in this country signals the beginning of a new tie between humans and robots," says Kunichi Ozawa, director of Sincere Korien, a new 107-room nursing home that is encouraging the use of the robot animals as therapy for the elderly.
Indeed, the use of robot dogs in hospitals and homes of the elderly are now being accepted by doctors as a way of helping patients and senior citizens cope with loneliness and illness.
more... (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/DJ26Dh03.html)
By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO - One of Japan's top-dog technological breakthroughs - the robot canine - and other robotic pets are being hailed by doctors and caregivers for bringing companionship and fun into the lives of the country's old and infirm, as well as sick children.
Keiko Ogasawara spent more than US$2,000 in January to buy her husband an Aibo, Sony's robot dog that has taken Japan by storm since it was first released in June 1999.
"I bought the robot to keep my husband company. He often complains he is lonely as I return late at night after work," says Ogasawara, 42, who is in charge of exports at a trading company.
Sony's Aibo is the world's first commercially available robot dog. The initial release of 5,000 units sold out in a blink in Japan and the United States. Since then, the robot dogs, which bark, whine, and wag their tails as they walk across the floor, have been produced in many models.
The newest version, the Aibo ERS-220 series released last November, "understands" about 50 words and some emotions that allow interaction with their owners.
"The popularity of pet robots in this country signals the beginning of a new tie between humans and robots," says Kunichi Ozawa, director of Sincere Korien, a new 107-room nursing home that is encouraging the use of the robot animals as therapy for the elderly.
Indeed, the use of robot dogs in hospitals and homes of the elderly are now being accepted by doctors as a way of helping patients and senior citizens cope with loneliness and illness.
more... (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/DJ26Dh03.html)