Ceilidh

Michael Zey
futurist3000@aol.com

BY AUDREY McAVOY
.c The Associated Press

NAGAKUTE, Japan (AP) - The rapper swiveled to the beat while exiting the dance floor, delivering his parting line with a lyrical ``Love Robots, Too!''

You could say this rapper is biased. For he is a robot, made by Toyota Motor Corp. to entertain visitors at this year's World's Fair. The squat, white machine with wheels for legs had earlier danced to a flawless rendition of ``When the Saints Go Marching In'' performed by Toyota's ``band'' of robotic trumpeters and horn players.

The automaker's sleek musicians will be among more than 100 robots at the Aichi Expo 2005, doing everything from greeting visitors at the gates to sweeping the venue's streets after dark.

The prevalence of robots at the fair reflects how sincerely developers believe they will soon make inroads into daily lives.

``Until now, robots were used at factories, in assembly lines to make cars or semiconductors,'' said Tetsuya Yamamoto, who as a manager at the government-funded NEDO research institute is responsible for bringing many of the robots to the exposition. ``In the future, they will be used in homes, offices, hospitals and amusement parks.''

Japan is home to half of the world's 800,000 industrial robots. Japanese companies like Honda Motor Co. have taken the lead in developing ``humanoid'' machines that mimic the way people walk, talk and even look.

Yamamoto said the first robots to ``work'' outside the factory will likely start arriving at offices, hospitals or even department stores within a few years as security guards or information-counter receptionists.

The Actroid, four of which will sit at the exposition's gates to answer visitors questions, could be one of the first to go commercial, he said.

Designed to resemble a 20-something woman with shoulder-length black hair, the Actroid quickly emerged as a star at a preview session held before fair's official opening on Friday.

Dozens of people lined up to ask her questions in any of her four languages - Japanese, English, Korean and Chinese.

Her computer has been given instructions to say sorry if she's scolded, but she's also capable of pouting if she feels insulted.

``She's like a person in a way,'' Sayoko Hayashi, 30, said after speaking to the robot. ``She was very polite and apologized for not being able to hear me.''

Not all of the expo's robots are humanoid.

The SuiPPi ground sweeper robots from Matsushita Electric Works Ltd. look like steel boxes mounted on circular brooms, but they are intelligent enough to detect and avoid obstacles while they clean.

The ALSOK Guard Robo, which has a computer screen for a stomach, beams to a security command center pictures of any intruders and fires it detects. It will also squirt suspected burglars with paint so humans can easily spot them later.

NEDO, which stands for New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, estimates Japan's market for service oriented robots like these will mushroom from to $17 billion in five years from nothing now, Yamamoto said.

As products like refrigerators, vacuum cleaners and stereos are increasingly installed with computers, everyday consumer goods may be leading the way.

``Many products, by being equipped by information technology, are being 'robotized,''' said Masao Kawase, who oversaw development of Toyota's musical robots. ``Robots will be more common in the home, in household electronics. We believe an era is coming in which people will coexist with robots.''



03/23/05 03:21 EST
   
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