It giggles and then it cries. It coos and then it wails. Ah yes. The wild swing of emotions from babies is now replicated in robots. Engineering students from Tsukuba University north of Tokyo in Japan have given birth to Yotaro, a robot baby meant to help young parents to learn about raising a baby. (That reminds me of the pregnant robot that teaches medical students about labor.)
The face is made from a soft, translucent silicon that responds physically to touch. Sensors and a camera detect touch and the presence of a person, relaying the info to a computer that adjust certain responses such as crying, sneezing and laughing, according to how often the robot is touched or interacted with.
The baby robot's facial expressions also change and it can move its arms and legs. A water pump simulates a runny nose or tears.
Japan is no stranger to robots. Research has been active in this area for years as the number of elderly people outnumber the youth. Humanoid robots may one day help care for the elderly.
My advice to wanna-be parents: Start simple, like with a plant. If you can manage to keep it alive, move onto a cat and then a dog. Cats are almost as easy as plants, though. Next, move on to dogs. They're more like toddlers. If you can handle having to repeatedly tell your dog over and over to do something without it listening and you haven't blown your top yet, you might be ready for a baby.
Photo: AFP
Video of Yataro
Tags: Biomimetics, Robotics, Robots
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