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Japan's android pets ease virus isolation

28 Comments
By Harumi OZAWA

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28 Comments
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Yamaha, which makes Charlie, describes it as "more chatty than a pet, but less work than a lover".

RIght, the company that built this wrote this about it's product? I HIGHLY doubt it.

One customer there, 64-year-old Yoshiko Nakagawa, called out to one of the robots fondly by name, as if to a grandson.

Huh? I feel sorry for this woman. She needs some serious help if this is actually true!

4 ( +14 / -10 )

I wonder if the robot is programmed to learn over time through experiences.

"Not only families with children, but also seniors in their 60s and 70s" are snapping up Robohon, which talks, dances and is also a working phone, a Sharp spokesman told AFP.

Studies suggest that longtime isolation could ruin the cognition of elderlies. Communications with the robot may help. The robot also play a supportive/monitoring role for its aged host in case of emergency.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

@Yubaru, you should not judge other people way of life so harshly and how they view happiness. Many of these pet robots help a lot of people from loneliness and stress. Especially those who lost families or something in their life. The pet robot culture had existed for a long time now. I myself still have a AIBO from my childhood.

0 ( +9 / -9 )

Did I just see a picture of a woman wearing a mask, inside her home, talking to a lump of metal?

16 ( +19 / -3 )

human contact is underrated.

don't make me start talking about my ex-wife and her toys.

14 ( +14 / -0 )

So let's not try and get to the root of why people are lonely. No, instead let's encotage people to buy robotic "friends" .

They have "souls". RIGHT

10 ( +11 / -1 )

A cat or a dog can do magic too, they keep you warm too.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

Better these toys than real animals who are disposed of when it becomes too bothersome.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

The GPT-3 natural language model was developed by AI but now licenses are being sold by Microsoft after an acquisition.

These toys seem to have their interfaces developed in house and have the functionality of the old Furbies.

Integration of GPT-3 into these hardware would be a paradigm shift.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The time will come when people will get fed up start searching for the simple living, it already started. when we go back to simplicity and get away from these noisy cold blooded toys that companies are trying to shovel down our throats.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

"goodlucktokyo"

Well put.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

""She is a pre-launch test customer for Charlie, which Yamaha plans to release later this year.""

Aha, so she is a human Robot too, should have guessed.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Would love to read, here on JT, what real Japanese people think (Not what corporations are trying to sell.): “Many Japanese accept idea that every object has a soul, ...wants a friend, family or a pet -- not a mechanical function like a dishwasher." - Corporations love to spin their ideas to get us to ‘Consume, Consume, Consume”.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

How is the boy on the floor, picture 3, related to the article?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

"Japan's android pets ease virus isolation"?

Only to the mindless, the insecure, and the fearful.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

If this is the future of human interaction and the solution to isolation and loneliness, then I'm seriously worried...

And the quote of the CEO of the company manufacturing these 'humanised robots', saying that 'many Japanese people accept the idea that every object has a soul', has me utterly baffled, I must say.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It is gonna be a failure.

The risk with that robots is that if kids get used too, it will become normal, as part of the life and then develop. As long as it is used as a pet or toy, it is gonna be a failure like the previous robots.

Did I just see a picture of a woman wearing a mask, inside her home, talking to a lump of metal?

There is a photographer in the room

1 ( +3 / -2 )

TrevorPeaceToday  09:28 am JST

"Japan's android pets ease virus isolation"?

Only to the mindless, the insecure, and the fearful.

The Corona virus has caused many people around the world to feel insecure and fearful and not without good reason.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

And here we have it,in a society,the Japanese one,which already lacks of affection and human communication is going to add robots and machines to replace what humans should do.

It is frankly very sad to see a society in general avoiding it’s nature to embrace complexity and such form of artificial relationship.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

What the hell is 'virus isolation?' Don't know anyone who is sitting at home 24/7 by themselves with the curtain closed and has no friends or family member to chat with. Try a Zoom or Line chat. Those contain real PEOPLE.

During Japan's virus state of emergency, the capital became "stark and empty", she said.

Funny how the trains seem to be fairly packed though. The weirdness just gets weirder.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Mark

A cat or a dog can do magic too, they keep you warm too.

No, that is like too troublesome.

Increasingly, people prefer living in fantasy lands where things are just perfect, and go to plan. There can be no surprises and everything mustn't be too much "hard" work.

Care of real pets, and soon family, friends/lovers and other relationships require too much time and hard "work" to maintain.

It's only go to get worse.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

As if there aren't enough 'robots' walking around...programmed to the core. Ever heard of human interaction, Japan?

6 ( +6 / -0 )

In my opinion they should seek a psychiatrist if you think your soooo lonely it’s unbearable or theses companies are brainwashed vulnerable people into buying a fake soul.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

She could not take off the weird mask for 5 seconds for the photo shoot?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Now just wait for the sexbots that will be coming out soon. That will be a game changer for sure.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If you are lonely, get yourself a cat.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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