HRP-4C: Japanese robot girl makes ASIMO blush

Japan introduced its next top model Monday; she stands 5 feet tall, weighs 95 pounds, and comes equipped with batteries. HRP-4C is a new Japanese robot girl that may put the Honda ASIMO to the test for the title of world’s most advanced robot. This advanced humanoid robot is indeed distinct from anything yet unveiled in the Japanese robotics industry. Created by Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, the HRP-4C features 30 motors spread throughout its body with an additional eight motors in its face which gives it (or her!) a wide range of facial gestures, including surprise, boredom, or disgust. This Japanese robot girl, equipped with synthetic skin on its face, neck, and hands, and a crop of black hair, is capable of a full range of human motions such as walking; moving its arms, head, hands; and bowing. The HRP-4C was developed primarily for the entertainment industry and is scheduled to stroll down the cat-walk next week during Tokyo’s five-day fashion extravaganza. Here is a video of HRP-4C:

HRP-4C Video

The development of this new Japanese robot girl pushes the envelope further regarding the level of sophistication that the Japanese are demonstrating in the humanoid robotics industry. This is not the first time that the Japanese have built robots that look strikingly human-like, but it does represent a breakthrough in the sophistication of robotic movement and expression. The highly popular ASIMO, introduced in its first iteration in 2000, for instance, represented a considerable breakthrough because it was Japan’s first fully-functioning bipedal robot capable of performing sophisticated movements like walking gently, running, climbing stairs, and kicking a ball. Nearly a decade later, HRP-4C is much taller and more humanoid in appearance, sporting a human-like head capable of a wide range of facial gestures. In 1970 Japanese roboticist, Masahiro Mori published “Bukimi No Tani,” known by the English title, The Uncanny Valley, in which he hypothesized that when robots and other artificial depictions of humans look and act almost like actual humans, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers. The “valley” in question represents a dip in the graph of the positivity of human reaction as a function of a robot’s lifelikeness. Based on his research, Mori became convinced that humanoid robot builders should not attempt to make their creations overly lifelike in appearance and motion.

But the advice has generally gone unheeded over the last four decades by the Japanese as the culture is incurably fascinated with the advanced humanoid robot, recently building robots that closely mimic human appearance and actions. One reason for this is plausibly related to the way that the body is viewed differently in Japan than, for instance, in the United States. Robert Geraci, a scholar specializing on the interrelationship between religion and science, argues in one article that Japanese Buddhist and Shinto traditions are informed by a highly favorable view of the human being and an intrinsic connection between mind and body, which makes the idea of a humanoid robot very appealing. Alternatively, the United States is heavily influenced by a Christian pattern of eschatological salvation, accompanied by a transcendence of the corporeal sphere, which leads to a more unsettled view of humanoid robotics. Geraci suggests that in the U.S. where the focus is on a cosmic transcendence, the technological focus happens to be on AI development and the attainment of an evolutionary state resulting in “the immortalization of human minds in computers,” leading eventually to an existence in which human minds can be downloaded into machines. The mind-body dualism in the West, which is so pervasive in the United States, would thus explain why the idea of the humanoid robot has been treated with more skepticism here than in places like Japan.

The development of HRP-4C represents not only a new paradigm in humanoid robot sophistication, but also a further exploration of human robot interaction and the permeability between humans and sociable robots. Many questions can be raised regarding the potential implications of this interrelationship: for example, how will people respond when a humanoid robot encroaches upon their personal space? Will they experience the revulsion predicted by Mori almost 40 years ago? What will be the reactions be of humans when a humanoid robot touches them?

The feminization of a humanoid robot will also invariably raise many important social, moral, and ethical issues as well regarding the possibility of status, the issue of civil rights, and how to deal with the probability of sexual exploitation. To raise the kind of questions that we and our children will face tomorrow, let’s ask ourselves the following:

“At which point does our ability to pattern a machine after ourselves lead to machinery with a right to self-existence? To its particular forms of happiness? Can such machines become miserable? Would we care? Are androids beings in their own right? If we do not offer rights to androids, are we in the process of creating a race of slaves and would this be a new kind of racism? If humanity develops an attitude of disregard towards androids, how might this affect our regard for each other?”

We should end this discussion on a note of optimism about the progress of humanoid robot technologies, but also embrace serious consideration for how the HRP-4Cs of the future will become stakeholders in the new technologically sophisticated, integrated global civil society. What rights will a humanoid robot have, and what sets of ethics or morals will they follow? Will robots be capable of love and affection, and will they desire to marry? It’s a bit too early to tell, but don’t look now—HRP-4C is already making ASIMO blush!

Tags: ASIMO, future of robotics, HRP-4C, HRP-4C video, human robot interaction, humanoid robot, Japanese robot girl, Japanese robots, robotics