A little roboto at Dairoboto

For most foreigners, Japan not only carries an image of the exotic and different but also of futurism, aided in no small part by its cultural output, especially anime. Stepping into Tokyo for the first time, taking in the sights and sounds of places like Shinjuku or the public transport system only reinforces this perceived impression of a hypercapitalist, futuristic society. Give it a while though and you realise that while this impression does have a grounding in reality, it’s also exagerated in parts, misrepresented through an outsider’s lens.

But as I found out last month when I went to the Dairoboto exhibition, in Ueno, Japan does lead the world in robotics, which given the aforementioned preconceptions of a futuristic society, is hardly surprising. Japan uses more robots than any other country and, as the exhibition’s blurb explained, is the world’s leading ‘robot kingdom.’ A term that would send the imagination of any self respecting nerd wild with possibilities.

Japan’s robot technology is not only more advanced than pretty much anywhere else, but also put to more use – from bi-pedal walking robots to industrial robots and cleaning robots or even amusement robots. Japan not only lacks space, its society is also ageing, all of which makes the proliferation of ‘useful’ robots all the more vital.

A few weeks before I went to check out the exhibition, and actually the catalyst for finding out about it, the paper I work at ran a story on how Toyota and Honda were locked in a technological race to produce the first robot for sale. A robot that could be used for anything from cleaning and serving in a cafeteria to helping injured or elderly patients in a hospital. According to the article, the companies are confident that such a robot will be on the market for sale by 2010, less than two years away. The hinted-at price tag is still enough to limit them to commercial use rather than the average salary man’s personal use, but still the mind boggles when you really think of the implications of such a fact. And I’m not just talking of the implications of a salary man having its own robot.  

Honda’s robot in question, named Asimo, was the main feature of the Dairoboto exhibition. It had its own ‘floor’ where you could queue up to see it do its thing, including running about, playing with a football and being remotely controlled and tasked to do various things by members of a family – from lifting heavy boxes, to playing with the kids or taking grandma to the shops.

While the first uses for Asimo and its kin are likely to be in hospitals and other public spaces, it’s clear that Honda are already contemplating its use as part of the future Japanese family nucleus, in a display that was, ironically, typical of Japan. After doing his thing for the best part of 30 minutes, running on stage and answering the calls of the hapless family members, a screen showed Asimo re-uniting with the family for the kind of postcard pose that I’m sure some hope could become the norm in the future. Screw the dog for christmas, let’s get a robot. And I’m not hating by the way, I’m one of those guys who’d love a robot as part of my family.

The rest of Asimo’s exhibition floor was actually slightly more interesting than seeing the robot pimp itself to eager Japanese fans. It showed its evolution from what looked like a fridge with legs to today’s cool, futuristic version, a family tree of sorts if you will. While the earlier, fridge like prototypes were just shown in pictures, they did have the two previous, and much bulkier versions of Asimo on display alongside the latest one, which made for a really interesting display of the insanely fast evolution of robot technology in Japan. After all when the Japanese take something seriously, they don’t fuck about. It also helps that a lot relies on these developments, not just a technological show-off.

The bulk of the exhibition was contained on the one floor, a little dissapointing but still more than enjoyable. Among the paraphenalia of early robot toys and Gundam figurines were some pretty amazing robotic concoctions including chip-sized tools, an exo-skeleton (the future is here after all), dancing robots, a Doraemon robot (couldn’t quite figure out that one) and my favourite a piano playing robot. The exhibition traced an interesting historical line from the country’s earliest attempts at robotics, karakuri mechanical dolls, to the latest mechanical and industrial robots and further on to the imagined futures of Gundam or Atom and the hoped-for future brought by the likes of Asimo.

We were also treated to a rendition of a Ray Charles classic on the trumpet by one of Toyota’s new generation of ‘everyday’ robots. In the main area was an impressive, giant standing robot that looked straight out of an anime – it seemed oddly familiar but I couldn’t quite pinpoint where I’d seen it before.

Atom, aka Astro in the west, was also present though his displays were the only ones forbidden to be photographed. Between Atom, Gundam and other classic mecha on display it was a bit like a walk down memory lane with the added bonus of lots of cool stuff I’d never seen before.

The funniest moment definitely goes to a talking robot developed by the Tokyo university, I think, which scared the life out of some kids who’d approached it while it was still quiet and jumped and ran for their lives as soon as it greeted them. The future might be here but some of us may still not be ready for it .

It’s clear that regardless of stereotypes or perceived impressions, Japan really has one foot in the future, a lot more firmly than most western countries. You could argue that this may be partly due to its recent decline as a worldwide leader in technology, the burst of the bubble and a need for the country and its people to remain at the forefront of mankind’s technological evolution. Or even the seemingly ’eternal’ Japanese gambaru, everyone wanting to do their best for the collective god.

But I like to think that if anyone is going to kick start the often dreamt about visions of the future we’ve all grown up with in the last 20/30 years, it’ll be the Japanese. Countless people have already taken inspiration from Tokyo’s evolution into a megalopolis for futuristic visions of what life may be like. You only need to take one look at Blade Runner today to know that some of it definitely feels a lot closer than you may have ever thought.

And as the Japanese are already responsible for producing some of the weirdest stuff in the world today, it feels only normal that they be the ones to bring robots into our everyday lives.

As usual there’s a bunch of pics from the exhibit on Flickr, which you can find here:

Dairoboto exhibition – Flickr set