A baby robot was unveiled in Japan as number of childless couples grows. The robot reportedly "invokes emotions" in childless couples in the country. The baby robot named Kirobo Mini is created by Toyota and is designed after noticing the plummeting birth rates.
Kirobo Mini, made by Toyota's non-automotive department is equipped with artificial intelligence and a smart camera recognizing the person who speaks to respond accordingly. According to Kirobo Mini's chief design engineer Fuminori Kataoka, the feature of the baby robot as a seated baby who wobbles a bit (not fully developed and skillfully balancing it) is a "vulnerability [that] is meant to invoke an emotional connection."
According to The Guardian, Japan is the leader in production and usage of robots. Kirobo Mini is in competition with other robots such as Jibo, resembling a swiveling lamp - designed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Paro, on the other hand, is a robot made by a Japanese company Intelligent System as a therapeutic machine to soothe elderly dementia sufferers.
Kirobo Mini - a baby robot blinks its eyes and speaks like a baby, with a high pitch. Toyota has tagged Kirobo Mini for 39,800 yen (£300/US$390) in Japan next year. It comes with a "cradle" that can be used as its baby seat designed to fit in car cup holders.
Chief designer Kataoka said Kirobo Mini is a stepping stone to more advanced robots that would be able to recognize and react to human emotions. Toyota is also investing heavily to develop artificial intelligence for self-driving cars.
As per the government statistics, Japan's birth rate has drastically reduced - halved to around a million. Another cited for the decrease in birth rate is the fact that one in 10 women in Japan never marries while births out of wedlock are very few compared to western developed nations.
According to International Federation of Robot, Japan is largest user of industrial robots after South Korea, with 314 machines per 100,000 employees. The baby robot - Kirobo Mini was unveiled on Sept. 3, the Global News reported.
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