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from the finally,-a-baby-you-can-play-pass-with...-literally! dept.
Toyota will sell a miniature version of the robot it sent to the International Space Station in 2013 to Japanese customers next year. The demand for robotic companions in Japan is expected to be strong due to an aging population, plummeting birthrate, and more adults choosing to live alone:
Toyota Motor Corp on Monday unveiled a doe-eyed palm-sized robot, dubbed Kirobo Mini, designed as a synthetic baby companion in Japan, where plummeting birth rates have left many women childless. Toyota's non-automotive venture aims to tap a demographic trend that has put Japan at the forefront of aging among the world's industrial nations, resulting in a population contraction unprecedented for a country not at war, or racked by famine or disease.
"He wobbles a bit, and this is meant to emulate a seated baby, which hasn't fully developed the skills to balance itself," said Fuminori Kataoka, Kirobo Mini's chief design engineer. "This vulnerability is meant to invoke an emotional connection." Toyota plans to sell Kirobo Mini, which blinks its eyes and speaks with a baby-like high-pitched voice, for 39,800 yen ($392) in Japan next year. It also comes with a "cradle" that doubles as its baby seat designed to fit in car cup holders.
The robot also requires a 300-yen ($2.95) monthly subscription.
Also at BBC, TechCrunch, and New York Magazine (nice headline).
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday October 04 2016, @08:36AM
Ah, so it's actually a solution to the "too many adults lacking babies" problem by using a devious "lets have them all kill themselves in car accidents because they're paying attention to something cute rather than the road" technique. Apparently Toyota haven't realised that sometimes other, innocent, people get harmed in crashes too. Maybe they're trying to solve a bigger problem - the "too many people alive" one?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Tuesday October 04 2016, @10:50AM
Maybe, maybe not. I'm reminded of something I read a while back that attempting to deter teen pregnancy by giving teenage girls realistic baby dolls spectacularly fails and actually causes more teen pregnancy. It couldn't have been this Salon article [salon.com] because it's too recent, but here you go anyway:
…A new Australian study published Thursday found giving teenage girls dolls to deter them from getting pregnant doesn’t work. In fact, girls from schools that use “baby simulator” programs are actually 36 percent more likely to become pregnant by the time they’re 20 than those in schools that don’t….
The study’s results, published in The Lancet, involved 2,800 girls at 57 western Australian schools from the ages 13 to 15, following them until they turned 20. The RealCare baby dolls are supposed to be a boot camp — the dolls cry, fuss and require feeding and diaper changing. They’re part of an educational curriculum designed to show girls “the physical, emotional, social, and financial consequences of becoming pregnant and dealing with parenthood.” The Reality Works company that produces them promises that its product “provides unforgettable lessons” for use in teen pregnancy prevention, as well as child care. They’re also not cheap, costing around 1,200 Australian dollars each.
So, it looks like Toyota has quite the competitive offer for wrong-headed asinine right-wing strategies to control teen pregnancy. More relevantly, it may be a devious plot to get Japanese kids to start having babies!
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday October 04 2016, @06:12PM
"lets have them all kill themselves in car accidents because they're paying attention to something cute rather than the road" technique
You know, like real babies. Or pets, I guess.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday October 04 2016, @06:52PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves