Toyota has developed a robotic child for older Japanese

Japan is a country that is among the top ten countries in the world in terms of population. And over the past ten years, the nature of the natural demographic movement of this country has changed significantly. The maximum number came in December 2004. Then recorded 127.84 million inhabitants of the Japanese islands. True, in 2005 the population of Japan was reduced by several thousand people.

Now the number of children born in this country is below the level necessary for the natural reproduction of the population. As of 2013, it amounted to 127.3 million citizens. So far, the Japanese population is aging, the number of pensioners is increasing in relation to young people. As of 2008, the birth rate in this country is 7.87 born per 1,000 people in the village. And since little children are born, Toyota has decided to help and ... start producing children in industrial quantities. Here we are talking about robots.

Today, the company announced the launch of the release of small robots Kirobo Mini. They are placed in the palm of a person, and are intended for people who want to have a child, but for some reason they cannot start it. The approximate age of such a “child” is a year. He may walk a little, but Kirobo Mini does it poorly. The robot does not have enough experience to keep the body upright. Such a flaw is designed by engineers specifically to evoke affection in a person towards clumsy people, and to stimulate the emergence of an emotional connection between a robot and a person.
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Toyota is launching sales of "electronic children" now, at a price of $ 392 per unit. A small robot sometimes tries to talk, but we remember that he is only a year old, so it is not always possible to understand what exactly the robot says. Although with the appropriate setting, the robot starts to talk normally, in a childish voice. Complete with the robot comes and a special docking station. It is made similar to a child car seat, which fits perfectly to the size of a car holder. So the owner of the car can always keep his robot in sight.

This robot has completed a number of robots created specifically for communication with humans. In addition to the Kirobo Mini, a robot can live with a Jibo robot, developed by experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is equipped with a large number of sensors and modern software that will allow the device to recognize all members of one family. Jibo establishes an emotional connection with each person, and communicates in different ways. He can assist in his work by acting as an assistant, announcing an early meeting with business partners or friends, or by reading out an e-mail just arrived. Jibo can help in the kitchen while cooking, podoskazyvaya how to cook this or that dish. So a chocolate cake recipe, for example, you can not learn from the book, but directly request the recipe from Jibo.

Developers position their creation as the first social robot for the family.


Robot Paro, created by another Japanese company, is made in the form of a baby seal. The appearance of such babies causes affection in almost all people. The developers position Paro as a robot designed to provide a calming effect and induce a positive emotional response in patients in hospitals and nursing homes.

Takanori Shibata from the Japanese research institute of intellectual systems “AIST” has worked on him since 1993. The development took the author many years, the robot seal was shown to the public only at the end of 2001. According to the creator, the robot may well replace a cat or dog as a pet. Moreover, the robot can be “kept” not only in an apartment or a home, but also in hospitals and nursing homes. Paro, like Jibo, has several sensors that allow it to pick up various events, reacting to them accordingly. If you stroke the robot, it will start wagging its “tail”, opening and closing its eyes. Also, the robot can react to sounds, responding to its own name. Jibo is able to demonstrate such emotions as surprise, joy or anger. The voice of the robot is like the real voice of a baby seal. He is awake during the day, and "asleep" at night.

Mortality in Japan is one of the lowest in the world. But the proportion of the population older than 60 years is maximum and is 29.7%. The problem of the country is that a large and continuing increase in the number of pensioners has to contain a decreasing number of able-bodied citizens. It is clear that older people need to look after, so the Japanese are trying to use modern technology to solve this problem.


As for the development of Toyota, the Kirobo Mini is able to respond to gestures, to show something on their own. He is able to determine the emotions of the owner and responds accordingly. Unfortunately, the robot-child cannot recognize faces. And this robot is studying the driving habits of man, because it is not for nothing that Toyota created such a system. In the future, with the permission of the owner, Kirobo Mini will send data about the driving characteristics of a particular person to the company's specialists. It will be anonymous data, on the basis of which Toyota experts will receive a lot of information for analysis, with the aim of improving the design of the car and its various elements.

Toyota representatives say they intend to start developing more advanced robots that can, among other things, recognize people's faces.