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Not so long ago there was a period when in Japan the robots were more a fantasy than a reality. They would appear to you peeping out through the glass windows of the technological museums of Tokyo or wave around questioningly in departmental stores.
They were polite, restrictive and when we are true to ourselves, generally fake. However, this is no longer true. Not Ten years.
Even not five. Over the last year alone, Japan has put the sphere of robotics to a newHeight that is impossible to ignore, and in case you are one of those who wonder what it really means to you, your family, and your job, then just keep on reading. It not too late. You are just at the right time.
The year 2025 has become a sort of turning point. It was not due to Japan developing the smartest AI ever witnessed, but because it started introducing those smart robots in everyday life without the big noise.
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Japanese robots have been put into real life application in houses, hospitals and crisis areas.
They react to emotion with AI that is based on the patterns of behaviour of humans.
It is presented in real stories about the way they are assisting instead of substituting people.
The new frontiers are ethical design and trust by the people.
This is not a far off future, it is here and now.
The Science of Japan and Robobama History
When you find yourself being irritated why you cannot stop hearing about Japan in cartoon and robot discussions, there is a history involved beyond the technological achievements. After the war, the reconstruction of Japan was not confined to the roads and rail way.
It also referred to imagination. Robotics joined one dream of the nation believing in harmony between the man and the machine.
The West was afraid of losing the jobs to the machines whereas Japan envisioned machines taking of the old or the blind. Robots were viewed as friends, rather than enemies.
Decade by decade that vision became policy. Japanese engineers did not just concentrate on the mechanical expertise; they concentrated on the emotional presence.
This is why there are such things as humanoids that speak softly and have blinking eyes rather than metal giant frames. They do not only do it. It is the way they feel as you do it.
The given cultural background preconditioned what is currently taking place in 2025. This is not a spontaneous technologic explosion. It is the product of decades of unnoticed efforts.
In 2025, Something Shifted And It is What the World should Listen to
Here is something that you may be surprised at. Japan is no longer constructing robots as a means of innovation. They are doing this out of necessity. They are not experimenting with one of the fastest aging populations in the world, their work force is getting smaller, and the need to support the population in healthcare is increasing. They’re adapting.
And this time something clicked.
Several firms, including some relatively young, some legends, presented the presentation of the machines that do not simply act on instructions. They are acquainted with tone. They interpret facial expressions. They also vary the voices when nervous. That is not flawless, but it is the closest ever to what we earlier described as science fiction. Service, emotion, and machine learning are all starting to cross each other.
It is not only the tech that changed. It is the emergency. Japan will not afford to wait till it gets the right robot. Now they are in need of assistance. And they made a decision to teach robots not only to work with us but also to live in the same world with us.
The Faces You In a Short Time soon will know
They now even have names. They are ones with routines. Others have social profiles. You will find one who will greet patients in the hospitals in Tokyo fixing a reminder to take their medication. The other one is reading picture books to children in Osaka. One brings grocery to the shut-in locals of the snow towns around Hokkaido.
This is not cold metal sculptures. They are made to be empathetic, smiling plastic faces, soft voice, pre-programmed sensitivity to human responses. When they feel saddened or are confused they adjust. Others kneel a little. Others change their posture. It can be something frightening to you. It may be something to be reassured by. but you will never be able to disregard it.
It is not the story of creating supreme intelligence. It is realistic emotional intelligence. And at this moment no nation is performing better than that in Japan.
Between the Glasses: That is the Real Way of Learning
Now you may be asking the question how does a robot know how I feel? It is a sticky answer, yet an important one. Japanese engineers are providing these machines with thousands of instances of voice timber, facial expression, posture and context as to the situation.
A of conducting business with slouching shoulders? That is classified as a false happiness. A monotonous voice, and jerking eye? Possibly anxious. They put these tendencies into their model of decision-making and the more cases they witness, the more skillful to react they become.
A robot has nothing like the gut instinct. However that which they are creating is the second best thing a very elaborate imitation of emotions on the basis of observation and reaction. It is not ideal.
It does however suffice in real life simple circumstances. It continues to progress better.
There is also the fact that, each time, any of these robots learns something out of a situation, the data is transmitted and polished to all the other robots within its computer network.
This can be imagined as evolving memory that is shared among thousands of the computers, continually changing.
THE TRANSMISSION ON TO REAL PEOPLE: Real Life is Being Reached
The lab is a good place-let us go out into the living room. Or the hospital. Or the corner of the street.
There is an old lady in Yokohama unable to talk to a relative in weeks but every morning, her personal AI assistant rolls over to her and presents her breakfast, asking her how she slept last night.
That robot nods, hears, and gets into superficial small-talk. It does not pose as being human. But still it does something, it fills some social silence which otherwise could pass unnoticed.
On yet another area in Japan, rescue bots are already put into trouble prone areas of disaster which is too unsafe to send a human.
They detect bodies using body heat, negotiate rubble and even give water or basic first aid. They do not freak out. They are not afraid to do it. They act.
And in mental health centers, AI operators with quiet conversations assist the teens to discuss what they may not tell an individual about.
These are mini interventions. Nevertheless they are real. And they are altering our perception of care and companionship.
They Are Not Conscious: Let us Be Honest. Yet.
This is where you may be tempted to make the big question whether these robots are self aware. It is no at least presently.
They do not realize that they are being helpful. They do not experience any guilt or pride. What they can do is to be able to identify feedback and learn to change behaviour. That is quite the opposite of consciousness.
People are frightened by the extent to which a mimicry may proceed. When a robot apologises when he perceives your eyebrows to go down in disappointment, you may be inclined to think that he is caring.
That is the way your mind sees it. It is not its intention.
Nevertheless this is something. The more trust we place the better the illusion. And faith, misplaced, is results in consequences, in healthcare, finance or even emotional support.
Japan is not attempting to deceive anybody. They do not hide the boundaries. However they are also stretching those boundaries, more than most.
The Public is Not Unanimous, nor Is That bad
This evolution is not being rejoiced by all the Japanese. Others perceive these machines to intrude especially in places where human touch will never lose its essence such as elderly care.
Others are scared about being unprivate that when your robot goes cry at night, where does any information travel?
There exists an issue of generation gap too. More youthful individuals tend to get used to it fast and view these devices as being beneficial.
Elderly people, despite being thankful to have them provide assistance, often cannot take it easy in their presence. It is not only functional. It is about being safe and being noticed.
It is due to this reason that the developers of robots in Japan are now introducing psychologists, sociologists, and artists in their firm. The questions are larger than tech because it has been happening. They have turned cultural. Emotional. Human.
The toughest bit Built-in Ethics in Code
Robots lack morals. Developers do. There is where it gets complicated.
In a scenario where a parent is yelling to a child, what would a robot do?
The situation when a handicapped individual is not breathing very well sounds an alarm to the emergency services, even though it breaches privacy? There are no easy answers to the questions. Japan is however attempting to develop a system of ethical responses.
That involves putting restrictions in decision making. It encompasses making sensitive tasks to go through human review. And it means difficult dialogue that most of the countries have not yet begun.
In case the robots live along with us, they will have to be restrained. Somebody somehow must write them.
How it impacts on you-Yes, you
You may reside very long distances away in Tokyo. You may never encounter one such robot in your day to day life- not yet however. But this does not mean that this does not appeal to you.
Japanese AI robots are affecting the design standard across the globe. They are influencing the thinking of your country on technology in hospitals, at homes, in customer service and in emergencies. The next artificial intelligence that will be your personal virtual assistant, the next stop traffic cop in your city, or the next learning tool in your school could all be influenced by the idea enabled in Japan.
Then, it is not good to sit on the sidelines. Ask questions. Insist on clarity. Demand ethics. The robot may not be concerned. the folks that are building it will.
My Opinion
The robots that will emerge in 2025 in Japan are not deities. The aren t devils. They neither are your friend, nor your foe. but they are improving at being able to sound more like they might be all of those things. That is why they are important.
They don t care whether you trust them or not, whether you welcome them or not, whether you fear them or not: they are here. They are already in existence. And future does not wait on your approval.
It goes in to your world on two smoother legs, blinks gently and says, have you had a good day?
