Baby Robot is Able to Feel, Display Emotions

The robot can walk, talk, and even speak. It has been developed to help scientists better understand how the brain of a human child functions. Certain scientists have long been fascinated with trying to reverse-engineer the human brain, just to see how we tick. (This branch of science falls under the scope of Cognitive Science.) While speaking to Associated Press reporters about his robot-child on June 8, 2007, the project's leader Minoru Asada helped to define the aim of work: "Our goal is to study human recognition development such as how the child learns a language, recognizes objects and learns to communicate with his father and mother."

For this purpose, the robot (lovingly named C2) was built to contain a multitude of sensors for touch and sound, a quarter as many "actuators" that work as muscles with the use of compressed air, cameras for eyes, and an artificial vocal cord. By using all of these devices, the robot appears to act as a drunk child. If a hand is placed on the robot's shoulder, the robot responds by looking over in the direction of the person who placed it there. The eyes raise, and the expression on the face - made of a grey, silicone skin - changes slightly. But mostly, if the robot speaks, it only seems to speak in mono-syllables.

The robot is about 4 feet tall and weighs just under 75 pounds. It can walk, but it has an even better ability to successfully wobble unpredictably. The scientists are working on a software that will allow the robot to speak more like a real toddler.

The unveiling of this robot in Osaka, Japan attests to this city's growing interest in Artificial Intelligence technology. In February of 2006, an United Press article called "Robots Used to Keep Japan's Children Safe" reported that in order to provide security to the parents of Japanese schoolchildren, the City of Osaka had provided new sensors on top of local vending machines that would be able to protect the children on their way to and from school by reading circuit chip tags attached to the backpacks of the children. The children's parents received emails when their children had reached the specified checkpoints. In working together with the business sector and scientists from a local university, the City officials hoped to offer confidence to worried parents who were concerned that their children not be put in harm's way in order to get back and forth to school. Unlike America, where parents can drive to drop off and pick up their children, Japanese schools are often concerned to hazards posed by school-related traffic, so kids are left with the option of walking instead.

Some of the Japanese parents feel that human solutions would be more helpful than technological ones.

It leaves us to ponder whether these robots are better helping us to meet the needs of today's children, or if they only serve the purpose of training the children to act more like little robots. And, if they can build such marvelous robots, why do the children still have to walk to school?