The 82nd Installment
Partner Robot Design – A Beneficial Coexistence with People

Ray Kurzweil was interviewed at the March 2017 SXSW Conference. He indicated that Singularity would be achieved earlier in 2029 – not 2045 as he originally predicted. Artificial dilation of the cortex that governs logical thinking results in people evolving into the post-human condition. When this bold prediction becomes fact, will these people still be human? Or will they be called cyborgs or androids or robots?

Even if this evolution does not soon occur, we are already at the point where humans and robots coexist. Look at the cleaning robot hits or the communication robots being marketed one after the other for evidence of this. These are “partner robots” designed to support everyday life. Here we consider their design.

As you are well aware, industrial robots for use in factories have been well-developed up to this point. By 2020, the Japanese government will expand the market size for industrial robots used for manufacturing applications by a factor of 2 from 600 billion yen to 1.2 trillion yen. Meanwhile, the market for service robots used for non-manufacturing applications is expected to expand by a factor of 20 from 60 billion yen to 1.2 trillion yen [1]. The domestic market for robots is expected to reach 5.3 trillion yen in 2025 and 9.7 trillion yen in 2035. Growth in the service sector is expected to be especially significant [2] with partner robots in close contact with people expanding rapidly.

Until now, the spread of partner robots has been limited. I was involved in the development of Sony’s entertainment robot (the dog-like AIBO) in the early 2000s. This was not successful as a commercial venture. The human-like QRIO, also by Sony, was not commercialized.

However, there have been important developments in recent years.

· Improved sensor and AI technology

· Enhanced information processing technology

· Securing new needs related to rapid demographic changes (medical and nursing care/workforce security)

· Information and communication network maintenance

Against this background, the use of robots in the field of life services has received renewed attention [3] resulting in what can be called “partner robots” becoming more common.

What sort of partner robot design has become most familiar? Robots focused on communication functions (Softbank’s Pepper/Sharp’s RoBoHoN/Deagostini’s Robi 2/Viston’s Sota) take the form of cartoon-like characters to emphasize their familiarity. This was also true for the AIBO, the idea being that the market would more easily accept an appealing character that included a world view.

The 2015 Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications White Paper [3] showed the results of a survey on the most desirable partner robot form. “Humanoid (strongly resembling a human being)”, “humanoid (not strongly resembling a human being)”, “animal (dog or cat or some other animal)” were each preferred by approximately 20% of the respondents. 30% said “they did not care about the robot form” (the most common response). 20% said “the robot should have a mechanical form compatible with its application”. Therefore, half the respondents had no interest in the robot having any biological form.

The design of the partner robot as a friendly character is understandable as it is an effective means of making them more acceptable. However, I believe that more important is the balance between an easily loved character and the inference of “intelligence”, which is based on appearance, movement, and response.

Recently I saw the movie “Interstellar” directed by Christopher Nolan. An important role in this film is played by TARS, an artificial intelligence robot of inorganic design that serves as the protagonist’s partner. The appearance and dynamics of the TARS robot changed multiple times during the course of the film according to the task assigned to it. This suggested to me one of the directions that partner robot design should take.

In the future, partner robots will have the ability to learn. This means that its “intelligence” will evolve and this, in turn, calls for new design approaches different from those of the past. Those involved in the Master Program of Innovation for Design and Engineering at this university are not just designers – they are “manufacturing architects” striving to bring about the innovation that can be applied to the myriad problems to be solved.

“An abundantly rich future in which humans and robots coexist” – I can only draw you a picture of what should happen. Partner robots that bring a smile to everyone’s face.

The year 2029, the mindfulness of robots. Will the robot in the back be praying for the health and happiness of one and all (Fig. 1) [4]　You who have evolved into post-humans may very well be a part of this.

［1］ MEIT Japan’s Robot Strategy, 2015
［2］ METI Trend Survey Result of Robot Industry, 2013
［3］ MIC White Paper Information and Communication pp. 191-198, 2015
［4］ AIIT Bulletin No.10 pp. 53-59, 2017