The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© 2011 AFPRobots help Japan's graying, shrinking population
By Hiroshi Hiyama TOKYO©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© 2011 AFP
19 Comments
Login to comment
The758
Quite sad ... talking to a robot isn't the same as human interaction
gaijinfo
This is ridiculous. The cost of these robots is much more than immigrant workers to do the same thing. If Japan thinks it's going to sell these robots to the rest of the world, it must think the rest of the world is as xenophobic as it is.
borscht
The758,
Not yet but when it comes to interacting with a machine, who better than Japanese innovators and engineers to build it? When robots and humans act and react the same, who will be able to tell which is which?
Goals0
There seems to have a been a big problem with the 2010 census.
Many of these were probably foreigners who didn't fill out the nationality question.
But the figure is too high. Many Japanese clearly didn't fill out that question either.
Unlike previous censuses you could mail it in yourself.
Who wants the neighborhood guy responsible for distributing the forms
to know anything about your annual income?
It's unlikely the number of Japanese in Japan actually fell.
Foxie
Japan surely lacks facilities for the elderly. They should invest more in those, that way more jobs would be created too. I don't want to spend my last days here with a robot.
frank07
two problems with these kinds of robots:
no human interaction.
costs far more than what any worker could do.BlueWitch
What?! I thought "Torero" was the name of the character portrayed by Vin Diesel in the movie The Fast and the Furious... LOL!!!
sillygirl
WOW this really speaks to the character of the japanese and not in a good way. so sad that HUMAN interaction is moved to the back seat. i hope when i am old here i have a PERSON to take care of me and not roomba.
BlueWitch
Honestly speaking, I'd rather kill myself than spend my last days with some ROBOT.
Serrano
BlueWitch - You say that because you're still young. Wait until you're old...
BlueWitch
Serrano my friend...I'm 30...not so young anymore in this society. Still, I would prefer a human being with me over a piece of talking hardware. And if there is really NO ONE to be with me, then a loving dog or cat would be welcome.
AiserX
The thing is that, in a free market capitalism prices will come down eventually as products become more readily available. An IPod Nano was like $199.99 upon release. Now its like $129.99 or $149.99.The same pattern will happen to these Robots as they become more tech efficient and cost efficient. Eventually making those immigrant workers MUCH more expensive then Robots, especially when you have to factor in language barriers and rate of learning. Where as Robots are built with all the proper needed skills in very little time.
kurisupisu
7 billion people in the world-some people will buy but not on a large scale until price and sophistication improve,,,,,,,,,,
JKats
So strange attitude... I met many who dont want to marry and not interested to have kids... they dont believe in family establishment, i guess... ruining own future and future of their country... so weird... :(
Ash 'Vanguard' Baker
wasnt there a anime film about this? an elderly man lives in a sort of nursing robot like an advanced form of what was suggested above but the robot takes on the sould of the man's deceased wife..very good.
oginome
Sounds interesting. Does anyone have the name?
cactusJack
Once they finally deploy the robot, it is already outdated.
wolfbiscuits
The movie is Roujin Z (老人Z). It was written by Katsuhiro Otomo (the same creator as Akira). It's an excellent film, and the first thing that came to mind when I saw these devices in the media. I guess it was only a matter of time. What a world!
oginome
Thanks wolfbiscuits and sorry for the late reply. Gonna go look for it now. :)