The 108th Installment
Partner Robots — Achieving a New Harmony with People
by Jun Uchiyama,
Associate Professor, Master Program of Innovation for Design and Engineering
The world's first industrial robot was created by Unimation, Inc., a U.S.-based venture company, and in 1969 Kawasaki Heavy Industries used that technology to produce Japan's first industrial robot. Then in 1970, Waseda University developed the world's first humanoid robot, "WABOT-1". Able to recognize objects and measure direction and distance, it walked on two legs, could grasp and manipulate objects with haptic sensors in both its hands, and could even carry on simple conversations. The robot was built, they say, through a collaboration across different departments and laboratories by a research team led by late Ichiro Kato. Honda's "P2" humanoid robot shocked the world when it launched in 1996, and the company finally brought us "ASIMO" in 2001.
The global robot industry is said to have been born in the U.S. and raised in Japan. For half a century, robot development in Japan has been supported by numerous robotics engineers who grew up on Japanese robot anime that all began with Astro Boy. To me, it seems this owes to an animistic, distinctly Japanese view of nature.
While everyone knows that Japan's robot industry has made advancements in the field of production, in recent years, personal robots made to assist with people's daily lives have been attracting attention. One could say this development began with the Sony's 1999 launch of the ERS-110, the first generation of AIBO robots.
AIBO ERS-110 started as the world's first autonomous robot powered by artificial intelligence and was intended to "inspire people through entertainment." World-renowned artist Hajime Sorayama conceived the concept design, seeking to create an autonomous pet robot design that conveys intelligence. For more intuitive interaction with the robot, veteran engineers, designers, and modelers produced a detailed design, with Sorayama focusing on making all aspects of its construction visible, including the movement of its joints.
Thinking on the subsequent impact that AIBO had on society, the fact that Sony gave AIBO a "soul" and brought it into the world as something "not made by Sony but born from Sony" was a significant achievement in showing what was possible for partner robots. Below are the "three new laws of robotics" proposed by Sony at the time. They imitate Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" in a way that compliments the AIBO concept.
Law 1: Robots may not harm a human. They may flee from those attempting to do it harm but may not retaliate.
Law 2: In general, robots may treat humans with caution or love and may even sometimes be contrarian.
Law 3: In general, robots may listen patiently to humans complaining and may even sometimes make insults.
In 1999, during the development of the ERS-210, the second generation of AIBO, I joined the robot development team as a technical director as it was thought that I would bring knowledge of both architectural and machine design to the development of AIBO, which required a balance of both. I took part in the design of almost every entertainment robot up until 2006, when development of the humanoid robot "QRIO" was canceled. From visually representation using 3DCG to flexible data building and rapid prototyping using digital fabrication, I took a contemporary design engineering approach, continually testing new ideas, creating a robot design development style along the way.
Possibly the greatest achievement of the all-star robot development team was the "ERS-7" AIBO model, launched in 2003, and the development of the "QRIO" humanoid robot. With the ERS-7, the team sought to showcase futuristic and adaptable technologies as an interface for a "robot that expresses emotion," and attempted to achieve natural robot communication through the creative use of light and sensing, including to express emotion. For the general styling, the team pursued an evolved ergonomic form, achieving a high degree of finish with surface flow and muting the seams between parts, all while achieving a balance between "adorable" and "cool."
3DCG was used to visualize the initial design concept, and by sharing it throughout the team a unified vision arose. It is still fresh in my mind how the team overcame adversity, those engineers and designers who deeply loved robots supporting the project with a shared aesthetic sense. Sadly, new development was later discontinued on Sony's AIBO, along with QRIO development.
Let's take another look now at trends concerning partner robots in recent years. The popularity of iRobot's "Roomba," which was launched in 2010, created a new market for "cleaning robots." SoftBank then captured the limelight in 2015 with its "Pepper" robot. There have recently been a series of robots that give a glimpse of the next generation. Among these have been HAL®, the world's first cyborg robot suit, which achieved a natural melding of man and machine, as well as robots from Boston dynamics and a broad array of unmanned robots (drones). HACKberry, the stylish motorized hand, employed innovative design engineering techniques and showed how partner robots are becoming a part of everyday life.
Sony brought out a new incarnation of AIBO on January 11, 2018, 10 years after AIBO sales were discontinued, while GROOVE X launched "LOVOT," a domestic robot, later that year on December 18. Though different types of robots, both had eyes that gave a strong sense of being alive. Maybe robots today feel so advanced because of their new display devices. The first generation of AIBO imparted a new sense of values to the world through its melding of robot technologies and the animistic view of nature that Japanese hold. It seems a new generation, having grown up in this culture, is speeding up the pace of next-generation partner robot creation. Perhaps achieving "human-robot harmony" already begun.