 "Photo: Jeffrey McWhorter")
Crowded into a small conference room decorated with colorful flags, fans and tapestries, dozens of students and faculty gathered Monday afternoon for a seminar on Japan's newest emerging demographic: robots.
The Center for Asian Studies
hosted a seminar by Jennifer Robertson, an anthropology professor at the University of Michigan, on "Robo Sapiens Japanicus: Humanoid Robots and the Posthuman Family," on Monday.
"[Robertson] is a foremost professor of anthropology and a Japan specialist," said Kirsten Cather, an Asian Studies
professor.
Robertson spoke to about 50 students and faculty on the decreasing human birthrate and increasing humanoid robot population in Japan.
In the industrial sector, Japan prefers robots over foreign
laborers because machines do not enhance racial tensions by evoking wartime memories, as foreigners do, Robertson said.
But the country is more concerned with utilizing robots to help increase native births.
Japan's declining birthrate led its liberal-democratic government to announce Innovation 25, a "visionary blueprint for revitalizing and roboticizing Japanese society - and the household - by 2025," Robertson said.
"In a silent protest against gender inequality, many Japanese women are foregoing motherhood," she said.
Because children require care at home, they can keep women from holding jobs. But in today's society, many women need or want to hold professional positions. As mothers join the workforce, robots take over their household duties, thus increasing the workforce and the birthrate.
Humanoid robots, or "Robo Sapiens" as Robertson referred to them, resemble humans anatomically, but maintain robot-like characteristics. Robertson showed photos of cartoon-like machines with exaggerated features and colorful bodies. These were the robots such as Wakamaru, PaPeRo and Ri-man that babysit, tutor children and care for the elderly.
These robots transmit images to cell phones, thus allowing mothers to keep an eye on their children while away from the home. Robertson suggested that this system would not be viable here, as most American children would probably throw the small machines out the window. But Japanese children are obedient to their robotic caretakers, and the machines have replaced the role of the mother or grandmother in the home.
"Displacing humans is not my cup of tea," said Delbert Tesar, a UT mechanical engineering professor.
U.S. institutes are researching robotic assistance for humans, but mostly for rehabilitation uses. There are currently 10 million disabled Americans in need of home assistance, and robots can help with daily activities, Tesar said.
Although traditional religious and cultural differences can account for the disparate in robotic popularity between the U.S. and Japan, things are changing. Technology is being used in medicine, art and almost all aspects of American life today, and people are increasingly establishing cyber personas, Robertson said.
In Japan, the more human-like sex robots are hoped to help curb sex trafficking and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Robertson showed a photo of Kaori, one sex doll that resembled a thin, pale girl wearing a short plaid skirt and an unbuttoned white shirt. These robots are available from the Internet in both the U.S. and Japan and were available on one Web site for as little as $5,000.
"Americans are developing cyber personalities on the Internet, and technology is becoming a part of everyday life," Robertson said.
However, Americans will probably never integrate robots into everyday life as much as the Japanese have, she said.
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