Robots the Next Generation

CHAPTER ONE

Robots and Japan

IF IN THE FUTURE YOU BUY A HOUSEHOLD ROBOT, THE CHANCES ARE IT WILL BE JAPANESE

Japan is famous for its long tradition of automatons, or machines that look and act like humans. In the 18th and 19th centuries, realistic human models, known as Karakuri ningyo, or "dolls that trick," were seen in homes, theaters, and religious ceremonies. The most common example was a small model of a woman in a kimono that served cups of tea to guests.

These sophisticated dolls became highly popular. Interestingly, the great engineer Tanaka Hisashige, founder of the company that would eventually become TOSHIBA, actually started his career in the early 19th century as a maker of Karakuri dolls.

But Japan did not invent automatons. In fact, they have been with us for thousands of years. The word automaton comes from the Greek "it moves itself." The 1st-century Greek inventor Hero was famous for his automated machines, which included moving dancers and fountains.

There are also many stories from ancient China of wooden automatons that sang, danced, or served drinks. Later, in the 12th century, the Islamic scholar Al-Jazari wrote a whole book on mechanisms and automatons, which included clocks, animals, a waitress, and even a programmable musical band complete with flute-player and drummer!

The English word robot comes from the Czech language and means "to serve." It was first used in the 1920s in a play by the Czech writer Karel Capek, titled R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). The play showed a futuristic world where human-like machines did all the work. In Capek's play these machines could think and feel, and eventually they rebelled against their human rulers.

By the 1920s in Japan robots were starting to appear in department stores. At first, however, they were not much more than complicated Karakuri.

The first Japanese humanoid robot was created in 1928 and was called Gakutensoku, or "Learning from the Laws of Nature." It was a Buddha-like model that used air to move its head and hands.

Its creator, the biologist Makoto Nishimura, believed these machines were part of nature. He is quoted as saying, "If one considers humans as the children of nature, artificial humans created by the hand of man are thus nature's grandchildren." His robot became a huge success and toured Asia and Europe.