日本嬰兒機器人會哭笑 讓人體驗育兒樂趣
It giggles and wiggles its feet when you shake its rattle, but will get cranky and cry from too much tickling: Meet Yotaro, a Japanese robot programmed to be as fickle as a real baby.
The cuddly baby-bot looks unearthly with a pair of luminous blue eyes and oversized cheeks, but engineering students are hoping it will teach young people the pleasures of parenting as Japan faces a demographic crisis.
"Yotaro is a robot with which you can experience physical contact just like with a real baby and reproduce the same feelings," said Hiroki Kunimura of Tsukuba University's robotics and behavioral sciences lab north of Tokyo.
Yotaro's face, made of soft translucent silicon with a rosy hue, is backlit by a projector connected to a computer to simulate crying, sneezing, sleeping and smiling, while a speaker can let out bursts of baby giggles.
The baby changes its facial expressions and moves its arms and legs when different parts of its face and body are touched. Physical contact is detected by sensors, and Yotaro's mood changes based on the frequency of touches.
Yotaro also simulates a runny nose, with the help of a water pump that releases body-temperature droplets of water through the nostrils.
While the baby robot has a balloon-sized head and exaggerated facial features, its inventors nonetheless hope "Yotaro could help young parents to learn about raising a baby," said research team member Masatada Muramoto.
"We came up with the idea of a baby robot because we wanted to reproduce a human being's warmth and skin colour," said Kunimura.
"We decided on an infant that has not yet learnt to talk because the feelings generated towards a newborn will be the same for everyone, and because interaction is less complicated than if we had made it talk."
Japan is already famous for highly sophisticated robots, from Honda's humanoid Asimo to pancake-flipping chef Motoman to Paro the fluffy robot seal that helps ease loneliness among the elderly.
Hundreds of thousands of industrial robots toil in factories, while robo-receptionists can serve tea, greet guests or vacuum corridors.
當你搖動它身體上的撥浪鼓時，它會扭動小腳丫，發出咯咯的笑聲，但如果不停地撓它癢癢，它就會發脾氣哭鬧——這就是“陽太郎”，日本發明的一款會像真正的嬰兒那樣喜怒無常的機器人。
這個機器人嬰兒的外表與衆不同，它有着超大的臉頰和一雙藍色發亮的眼睛，看上去十分討人喜愛。研究人員希望在日本面臨人口危機的大背景下，這款機器人能讓年輕人體驗到育兒的樂趣。
位於東京北部的筑波大學機器人技術和行爲科學實驗室的國村廣城說：“陽太郎可以讓你體驗到與真正嬰兒進行身體接觸的感覺，這種感覺是一樣的。”
陽太郎的臉部由柔軟半透明的玫瑰色硅膠製成。它的臉部下面有一個投影設備打出背光，這個設備與電腦相聯，在電腦的控制下，陽太郎會做出哭泣、打噴嚏、睡覺和微笑等動作和表情，同時還有一個揚聲器可以發出陣陣咯咯的嬰兒笑聲。
當觸摸“陽太郎”臉部和身體的不同部位時，它的面部表情會發生變化，還會移動胳膊和雙腿。陽太郎通過傳感器感受人的“愛撫”，根據觸摸頻率的不同，陽太郎的“情緒”也會隨之變化。
陽太郎還會流鼻涕，這一功能主要通過一個水泵來實現。在水泵的幫助下，與體溫溫度差不多的水滴就會從陽太郎的鼻孔中流出。
這個機器人嬰兒的頭和氣球差不多大小，面部特徵也比較誇張，但研究小組成員村本正忠說，它的發明者希望“它能夠幫助年輕夫婦學會如何育兒。”
國村說：“製造這款機器人源於我們想仿製人類體溫和膚色的想法。”
“我們決定製造一款不會說話的嬰兒機器人，因爲大家對新生兒的感覺都差不多，而且相對於會說話的機器人，與不會說話的機器人交流起來也簡單一些。”
日本素以製造高端精密機器人而著稱，從本田公司的仿人機器人阿西莫到會拋煎餅的廚師機器人莫託曼再到幫助老年人排解寂寞的毛茸機器海豹帕羅，五花八門，無所不有。
另外還有能奉茶、迎賓、會用吸塵器的機器人接待員，以及數十萬在工廠裏勞作的工業機器人。
Vocabulary:
wiggle: to move from side to side or up and down in short quick movements; to make something move in this way （使）扭動，擺動，搖動
rattle: a baby's toy that makes a series of short loud sounds when it is shaken 撥浪鼓
cranky: bad-tempered 脾氣壞的
fickle: changing often and suddenly 易變的；無常的
cuddly: if a person is cuddly, they make you want to cuddle them 令人想擁抱的
demographic: relating to or concerning demography 人口的
backlit: lit or illuminated from behind 從後面打光
vacuum: to clean something using a vacuum cleaner 用真空吸塵器清掃
