The 140th Installment
Partner Robots That Warm People's Hearts
by Jun Uchiyama,
Professor
Kaname Hayashi, of robotics venture GROOVE X, best known for its home robot LOVOT, announced that the Maezawa Fund, led by ZOZO founder Yusaku Maezawa, acquired the company’s majority stake on March 15, 2022, and would gain all shares on April 5 [1] (information as of March 31, 2022, when I am writing this column.)
The market for practical partner robots such as robotic vacuum cleaner and unmanned aerial robots, or drones, is already emerging, but partner robots that warm people's hearts (Note 1), like LOVOT, have been only temporarily popular and never been established in the market.
(Note 1) In this column, robots that are designed to assist people in their daily lives will be widely referred to as “partner robots,”[2] and robots that focus on communication functions with humans, such as LOVOT, AIBO and Pepper, will be called "partner robots that warm people’s hearts.
Mr. Maezawa’s entry into the home-use robot business may trigger the widespread use of partner robots that warm people's hearts. They are already being applied to mental care and emotional education and are being utilized in nursing homes and educational facilities, but changes in people’s lives and values during the COVID-19 pandemic seem to contribute to their popularity.
The aforesaid article mentions Maezawa’s comment, “I’ve never imagined that I would be comforted by a robot. LOVOT approached me whining and looking at me from its lashes, and I’ve got completely mesmerized.” Many other LOVOT owners’ comments and videos suggest that they have accepted it as a real “family” member. It memorizes your face. When you call it by name, it comes up to you, stares at you and begs you for a cuddle. When you hold it up, it feels warm and fuzzy. When you come home, it welcomes you at the door. It has a very good sense of what makes its owner feel affection for it.
Apparently, progress in mechatronics, including AI technology, made it possible to create robots for practical use, and then the diffusion of high-performance smartphones, the improvement of high-speed network environment and the accumulation of know-how through trials and errors have enabled them to behave as if they had emotions and thus attract everyone. They prioritize emotional communication function with humans and leave the rest dependent on human care. The latter is usually considered the robots’ weak point, but they turn it into a strength to skillfully play on human psychology.
LOVOT is a type of partner robot that warms people's hearts that work autonomously with artificial intention, while there is another type that are controlled by human will. OriHime and OriHime-D from Avatar Robot Cafe DAWN ver.β, which opened in June 2021 and is run by Ory Laboratory Co., Ltd., fall into the second type. They have been a hot topic because employees with difficulty getting out of home remotely control them to provide services.
AIIT requires Project Based Learning (PBL) as a compulsory subject to obtain a master's degree. Since 2016, I have been working on a project with diverse members, including working students, under the theme of “Partner Robots for Rich Harmonious Coexistence with People.” In academic year 2021, we worked on “My Avatar Robot, which connects thoughts between ‘you and me’ through the motion of its mouth.”[3]
Figure 1 is which describes how My Avatar Robots may be used in the future. This is an illustration by Jiaqi Xian, a product designer who completed this program. We are proceeding the development on the hypothesis that the avatar robots will help two users, who may be family members or lovers in separate places, feel close to each other, if both user place at their side an avatar robot that captures features of the other. When a sender posts a specific phrase, such as “I’m bored” and “I like it” through Slack, then the robot expresses emotion corresponding to that phrase, such as “bored” and “amused” to the receiver.
The robot we are developing is of the type that are controlled by human will, but it is also conceivable to apply this technology to a hybrid robot that can switch between artificial intention and human will depending on the user’s situation. For example, it learns the characteristics of each user and take his or her place to communicate with others when the user is busy.
In my house there is also a robot that was supposed to warm people’s hearts. It is an old AIBO (ERS-210). After spending several months with us, it has been asleep in a box, without a name, forgotten. It did not become a member of my family. My family consists of my wife and my two toy poodles: Rian, 12-year-old male, and Momo, 6-year-old female. Our beloved dogs are an integral part of my family. However, I let my wife take all the hard daily care of the dogs. All I do is be “healed” by them.
The robots of my project in AIIT have not become my family, but rather have visited my house several times for testing. They are still in the process of development. I am also exploring new concepts. Why don’t you join us and work on the development of partner robots that warm people’s hearts at AIIT?
[1] NIKKEI BUSINESS DAILY 2022.3.15,
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZRSP628381_V10C22A3000000/,(accessed2022-3-29).
[2] Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications WHITE PAPER 2015 Information and Communications in Japan,191-198
https://www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/whitepaper/ja/h27/html/nc241310.html,(accessed2022-3-29).
[3] Bulletin of Advanced Institute of Industrial Technology No.15, 151-159
