Helpers or replacements?
But the idea of a fully automated and intelligent robot has many technology futurists worried about the dangers robots may pose to humans.
Like Frankenstein's monster, robotic creations might one day replicate themselves and contribute to humankind's demise, according to Bill Joy, CEO and a co-founder of Sun Microsystems.
Indeed, in the US, robots have traditionally been feared as control-freaks out to wreck lives. In movies, robots are often portrayed as having brutish strength, grim personalities and remorseless logic.
Yet the view of robots in Japan is much better. Japan is leading the way in the use of robots in commercial ventures. And many Japanese researchers credit their childhood love of fictional robots--especially Astro Boy, who served as a national poster boy to inspire the development of helper robots following World War II.
Throughout Japan, service robots are functioning as guards in warehouses, delivering trays of food in hospitals and carrying documents from one office to another. Honda Motor is investing heavily in practical humanoid robots that operate household switches, turn doorknobs and perform tasks at tables.
The Japan Robot Association estimates that by next year, some 11,000 service robots will be deployed, with 65 percent of them in hospitals and nursing homes. The association also projects that by 2005, health-care robots will be a US$250 million market, with a possibility of growing to a US$1 billion market by 2010.
Within 10 years, personal robots are expected to be as common in Japan as personal computers and cellular phones.
One of the first humanoids on the market will be Honda's Asimo, a child-sized android, that can walk, climb stairs and negotiate corners. It can turn out the lights and do other small tasks. The humanoid robot is being outfitted with programs and artificial sensors that will make it autonomous.
This fall, Honda plans to start renting Asimo to companies and museums for use as a visitors' guide for an undisclosed fee.
In the US, consumers have already begun to adopt robots--such as Hasbro's My Real Baby, Manley Toy Quest's robotic dog Tekno and Sony's robotic dog Aibo - as toys and pets.
Consumers also rely on robots to perform housekeeping duties. The commercial success of the robotic lawnmower and robotic vacuum cleaners suggests most people are very open to single-function robots to handle daily tasks. And this summer Steven Spielberg is expected to help ignite the consumer robotic craze with his movie AI, which will feature supersensitive, superhuman robots.
At Sony, engineers are developing the next generation of humanoid robots. The company last fall demonstrated its prototype at Japan's Robodex, a new expo for personal robots. Sony's robots, dubbed SDRs for Sony Dream Robots, performed all kinds of acrobatics, jumped, danced and kicked balls. They are expected to hit the market within five years.
