Robots

As I'm hopefully heading away from this frightful country, and towards that which own(s) (ed) it, I thought I would check out the latest robotics.  Robots and Japan are synonymous after all.

It turns out there's been no real advancement in robotics, beyond what seemed to have been achieved by 2005/06.  I would imagine it's in part due to the perceived devastation of the financial crisis (life goes on, let's be honest).

For once the BBC article sums it up nicely.  People don't want a weird looking semi-human looking thing helping them.  (Check out the picture of the man in a suit holding the woman, who would want that thing helping them?)

The alternative is what I would have expected to be the natural evolution of robotics anyway; building robots for every day purposes, and integrating as many functions into them as possible.  Just like  a mobile phone.  Some time down the line (let's not get into wild date predictions) this hybrid toaster/nail clipper/hair cutter will sprout something resembling arms, and upon reaching mark V will grow fingers.  Surely it would make more sense to build a machine from the core purpose, adding extra features, than try to build a fully realised robot and have it attempt to fit a purpose at a later date.

That's just how I always imagined it would be.  (I think the Japanese watched too many robot films, like I robot)


In reply to the comment left on my previous page: all those things have happened to me.  Whether I provoked the people who did them in a way unbeknownst to me (I've lived 20+ years with only a couple of those bad things happening to me, prior to living here) or not, they happened.  Should I judge this country on fairy tales and fluffy dream-like examples of what might have been, or what I have experienced?  I understand that the corollary of optimism is ignorance, but after a year of drudgery, I can no longer see the fabled Korea set forth in TV dramas and movies.