Meet the Robots Powering Japan's New Tech Movement

if you're having tea with the giant Hello Kitty doll then you're almost certainly in Japan this is a place that specializes in obsessing over things and taking every want and need to their unnatural extreme if you desire a refreshing drink there's a vending machine that will evaluate your face and pick the perfect beverage or perhaps you prefer to imbibe while in the company of an ornamental owl whoa-ohh or two down a latte with the three-dimensional robot as garnish ah that's good robot good Japanese of course also fetishize technology like no other culture Japan's once glorious tech shine may have dulled with the decline of Sony and other empires but without question there's a new tech movement on the rise I'm traveling from Tokyo to Osaka and Kyoto to meet the Japanese inventors bringing this new culture to life where we go along the way I'll meet an eccentric figure who wants to live to a hundred forty-four hang with some robots that could kick my ass and lose myself in this trippy Wonderland all in this episode of hello world Silicon Valley may be home to some of the biggest tech giants in the world but it's being challenged like never before crazy tech geniuses have popped up all over the planet making things that will blow your mind my name is Ashley Vance I'm an author and journalist and I'm on a quest to find the most innovative tech creations and meet the beautiful freaks behind them where else would I begin my journey but in Tokyo millions of people make their way around the city in an orderly fashion doing their best not to bother anyone the hustle of modern life dominates the city but it's at night the Tokyo really comes to life open a sliding door and an explosion of people and food await inside or you might head here to the robot restaurant as touristy and insane as all of this is it actually gets to the heart of Japan's relationship with robots the machines here come with stories and personality they're good they're bad and sometimes they eat people but far away from the fire-breathing dinosaurs and werewolf guitarists researchers at a Tokyo Museum have set up a workshop where they're looking to prove that robots can be imbued with life eat your red pill and try to keep up professor Takashi Ikegami has helped create this thing which looks like it comes straight from ex machina central casting through a series of sensors and artificial intelligence software this android looks out into the world and reacts to what it sees the Android is an effective olve it based on what it's AI software seems to like basically two different mechanisms one is autonomous or rhythm generators okay it's coupled with each other also there is artificial neural networks spontaneously firing and sending signals to each other someone approaches the Android the sensors detect the movement and then the software kicks in to determine how the robot will move in response but for the moment it has a movement style that could be described as that really drunk guy at the party okay so in each one of these sensor boxes right here yes there's two cameras yep and this is measuring measuring the distance so when I come closer or further away from the machine then both what it has to do something it has to do react to them yeah you guys will add more and more sensors yeah we can put like a temperature sensors sound sensors many other fences armed with more sensors the robot can make more judgments about its environment and more nuanced reactions over time the movements and gurgles change the thinking is that the robot will eventually form its own personality and possibly even language what's the deal with the noise is that hungry this sound is it designed by my student the behavior is modifying those sounds the sound is changing all the time it's more like in a primitive language that's I think the interesting part of it like our babies we don't have to tell everything to the baby but baby can learn unconsciously by interacting with people just like with the environment right once we have a bunch of lifelike systems around us maybe our concept of what is life would be very much different and then if we want to coexist with robots they will maybe have to learn different languages different way of thinking so that doesn't freak you out you think that's a go justice I think it's much more ideal to me ok with this you know very violent world right now well thank you for letting me see your Android thank you thank you oh she said something I think he said he likes you one of Takashi's robot building colleagues works in osaka making some of the most lifelike androids ever built so I hopped on a bullet train to witness the demise of mankind firsthand even on a tame Tuesday night Osaka lives up to its reputation as one of the most vibrant food capitals in all the world vendors making all manner of delicacies fill the streets in between high-rises but the creation our master resides in a more sedate part of town meet Erica she's the creation of Hiroshi Ishiguro a professor at Osaka University's intelligent robotics laboratory mr. Goro has become famous for his pursuit of a lifelike Android I think this is the most beautiful face in the world she's killed in tjuta absolutely our challenge is to install the intention desire to this robot so without the intention there's Aria in other Android it cannot be emotional and under cannot understand other people whose intention desires right what kind of desires to zarok am she want to be well recognized because she's a kind of an exhibitionist with this laboratory her job is to be a receptionist that's the receptionist or secretary or something like that do you mind walking me through things she can hear you see you know this communities I'll call you myself no let's go Massimo's man esteemeth a massacre honeycomb-like iam is kinda yo what happened she got angry she got angry well I say no I say that much much much much is a kind of joke alright so you always say mush mush if you're on the phone right right right so it was rude that it's an in-person yeah Erica listens through an array of microphones hidden in the flowerpot no and relies on electronics and sensors for her movement an AI software for her responses Hiroshi thinks Erica lives up to the term Suns icon which means she admits something akin to a human presence how do you think and she is like a human or just a wax model or so I get to see these robots all over the place to me it's one of the most lifelike ever machine and Hiroshi has an interesting proposition for me that would test how close to human I think Erica really is if you wanna be Ruben that was all right if I was gonna kiss this robot yes I would be the song's icon okay have you ever kissed Erica no this is the Japan right though we are not in a United States riser Japanese never do that my guess is that we're gonna have a huge bar I kiss for the robots we have a huge variety for the car right very cheap causing economy car right button we also have a Ferraris and in a Porsche and this is a kind of a Ferrari and up next I head to Kyoto for a lesson in robotics history and to hang out with some other less terrifying robots that you might actually let near your children if you want to learn about robot culture Kyoto is as good of a place to start as any for hundreds of years it has been the showcase city for Japan's most famous traditions from geishas spectacular temples over in the University District you can also find some of Japan's best technological minds I've come to Doshisha University to dive deep into Japan's love affair with robots with the professor and one of Japan's most active robot hobbyists a Tunisian Engram I know he only hired an embosser hyah till you gain about a hockey puck Sean got a guillotine oh God he don't talk chewy not eat it Wow yeah gears got good news Takashi Hori mochi embodies a Japanese concept known as a taco it refers to a person who obsesses over something be it hello kitty sushi for robots for Takashi robotics is more than a hobby it's his passion most of his free time goes into assembling these things by hand out of 3d printed body parts and electronics do you work on these almost every day yes about two hours for mostly Nostromo eat soup is very Tomo can I eat it that's cool yeah each one takes months to build including the software for the choreographed lose but it's not all for show these robots must fight to earn their keep akira would i hit other robots uh yeah that good yeah one of Takashi's robots recently took first place in a competition making him king of the otaku and when you're the king there are people that want to study you one of Japan's foremost researchers into the relationship between man and BOTS is Hiro Fumi kutsuna an anthropologist here at doe sheesha University I was looking for you know that the passionate people who work on robots I joined a group and started to create my own robots and YouTube met at the end in the advance Hiro felt compelled to ask that Seinfeld II in question what's the deal with Japan and all those robots it's related to Japan's sort of national quest to establish its own identity and after the World War two so after the sort of a devastation of the whole land Japan started to rebuild the nation through promoting the peaceful use of science and technology in that process I think many anime creators and manga creators started to ponder the kind of ideal relationship between the Japanese and technology for South Dakota saga now some who who is a creative elastro boy hero is not alone and pointing to the significance of astro boy the manga series started in the 1950s and has a mad scientist-type building an Android to replace his dead son the saga goes on to explore what life would be like if humans and robots coexist and it's that very same idea that one local tech giant has invested millions of dollars to pursue Hitachi produces a shocking amount of stuff from brain scanners right on up to nuclear reactors this being Japan it's also in the robot game I've gone to one of the company's vaunted research labs to see its latest take on the robot that people desire most an autonomous helper Hitachi calls this creature EMU I am you okay Amy was developed as a sort of friendly robot concierge equipped with AI for navigation and speech recognition he might provide directions at an airport or do some low-level security work or he might be kicked over by a cynical reporter looking for a good time that's pretty cool that resemblance between EMU and my pal Hello Kitty is on purpose EMU's designer hace baba wanted the robot to have the same harmless non creepy feel is it meant to look like a child yes because everyone liked it nevertheless shut up the eyes cleared up there's an adorable quality to these robots and they may be helpful one day for the moment though rolling around looking cute is about the extent of what they can do and they're super expensive to make you have a price that you're aiming to get to we've applied to you know cheap a sound uh car be cheaper than a car huh okay what's that EMU you want to make up for your failings by showing me an autonomous vehicle okay thanks Evie you here's my rad this sweet hog with the flip top door is called rope it's the way we go it's sort of like a self-driving car but is meant to travel down sidewalks instead of on the road and this is the vehicles inventor Ryo ki kitchen OC coupe ahead sister Kanta Oh Co Ducati galvanized o2n typically do any pseudo textio neato akuto - stigmas to Cebu chika Soto scallopini demo Coolio Sundance universe newbie - there you my demo to get it most la Japan's aging population has forced the country to try and invent new ways to help seniors make their way around cities the idea here is that someone can summon the car to their house and then go for a leisurely drive to the store the open windows and slow speed of rope it's means that the driver can even have a chat with a friend for perhaps an enemy walking nearby it's a beautiful utopian future the tachi is imagining for us all full of smart compassionate robots attending to our every need but suffice it to say that future very much remains the future the wall the wall where we doing helping you up next I returned to Tokyo for a few surprises that thankfully have nothing to do with robotics at all glad I didn't take acid before we carry one in Tokyo it's a geek rite of passage to visit Akihabara this district in the heart of the city has long been the place that locals and tourists go to to buy electronics and mash buttons Oh anything your nerdy nerdy heart desires can be found in Akihabara be it esoteric robot parts the cafe staffed entirely by maids or a real-life version of Pokemon go only way way more frustrating come on my kids come on this is just sorry kids daddy couldn't catch them all not far away in the suburb of citta Gaia there's another temple to Japan's inventive ways it's the home / laboratory of dr. Nakamatsu know you're famous when you've got your own Street Avenue and square right outside your house dr. Nakamatsu zacchi --vs the lab status through his numerous inventions walking into his house is like stepping into a QVC graveyard of forgotten and obscure gadgets some of his inventions are legit many years ago he patented the floppy disk and a popular suction device used throughout homes in Japan dr. Nakamatsu you for having us here Oh welcome they're coming to Japan and the welcome to dr. Nakamatsu house that was reading that you invented the floppy disk the CD the fax machine the drone why do you think you don't get credit for all of these inventions yeah because I'm always looking new things I'm working Saturday Sunday holiday yeah I haven't no holiday in addition to being a pro at dodging questions the good doctors biggest claim to fame as having more patents than anyone else Thomas Sr made 1093 and he did that 84 am now 88 my number is 3500 and this is still increasing because I'm still living yeah not incredible but not all of dr. Nakamatsu inventions are addison esque this is a weapon inside and when you have somebody coming at this this is dr. Nakamatsu otter despite a change pata technologies this pata can control board direction and distance the doctor has even developed an over-the-counter solution for one of Japan's biggest economic problems in Japan the population is decreasing and decreasing this is subject but the forebrain makes miserable 6 and this object no needle for free just the spray away from dr. Nakamatsu his amazing loved use Japan's creative thinking has stalled in recent years to find out why I joined my friend noriaki Okubo for a chat about Japan's tech scene over noodles Aki is a well-connected tech guru venture capitalist and champion noodle slurper know worked on my slurp technique after a week in Japan I had so many questions for him how would you compare the Japanese VC scene to say Silicon Valley traditional VCS are really bad because they don't want to take risk there there's a lot of new VCS that are doing pretty well new Internet companies and you know they can take risk but not the traditional you know salaryman type VC yeah manake says salaryman he's talking about that image we have of the conservative hard-working Japanese businessman this culture rewards conformity and safe business decisions according to Aki it's a key factor in the fall of Japan's tech dominance in favor of the disruptive mentality of Silicon Valley the decisions that come up from that kind of process is always going to be you know let's just do something that's okay and nothing cool yeah what's that company that does the robotic vacuum cleaners Oh Roomba or remote yeah yeah so Panasonic or Sony could have made that easily but then in their meetings somebody would say okay so what if this falls from the stairway and there's a baby and it hits the Beave and kills it let's not do this it's too risky is there a big college to change the way you're thinking I mean I think there is but it's just still very the minority yeah well hockey's take on technology here holds true in the big picture there are plenty of people and companies that see themselves as rebels trying to buck the system and no one exemplifies this better than Toshi Yukio Naoko and his company team lab for an OCO inspiration struck when he was just eight years old he's in Uganda green in my second year of junior high I usually tell people that an electric wave struck I'm not sure what it actually was or even how to describe this but a strong sense of duty that I needed to do something that had meaning in society suddenly came over me if that red pill is still circulating through your system then this will feel perfect let's see if we can go find a fish it's one of team labs world-famous techno art experiences they use this projection mapping technology to track the fish when they hit somebody's body I supposed to turn into a flower alright we're supposed to move on you tell em all how long does it take to do one of these projects not forever no we take one idea and create reconsider then repeat the process for example the exhibit you saw crystal universe is that we've been working on for five years the pool one we've been working on for two to three years team lab has around 400 employees thinking up new ever weirder things and working in their makeshift laboratories what's this one very not got good spin again you're making clothes right I think it's for a show it's for a dancer no he's making clothes for a mascot Oh duh here we're experimenting with a device that allows you to manipulate waves in the water you're gonna make patterns in the water and control the pattern yeah that's cool Kanako is known throughout Japan as a flamboyant character for him you either create something new or you grow old and stay quiet la you know is that I love Japanese society has age too much it is a society of old people it's conservative and it can't seek value in new things so you're trying to change that no no no no no no I want to be with people who want to take a step into the new world people who are creative you want to change the world these people I hope to inspire and to have an influence on or by having them experience our art I want to shake their values out of things so rather than taking on people who don't want change I work to inspire people who want to change it's an OCO and the people wired like him the two seem to be Japan's best hope for a major technology resurgence the well-funded robotics labs and corporate giants do amazing research but they've struggled to keep pace with places like Silicon Valley and China when it comes to making products that actually reach consumers Japan remains trapped between two worlds the old and the new it's a country that has turned the future into a religion but that must still deal with an aging population and rigid customs the way forward for Japan its chance to really make a mark will almost certainly come from its robots EMU for one is already getting ready to be a guide and chauffeur at the 2020 Olympics for now I say goodnight to Japan may all our dreams be filled with Hello Kitty up next on hello world I head to Russia to fly drones in Siberia hang with a techno oligarch wow this is really cool and get beaten with a birch branch you

Channel: Bloomberg Quicktake

Views: 432,125

Rating: 4.8095236 out of 5

Keywords: Bloomberg, Robots, Japan, Tokyo, a.i., artificial intelligence, Ashlee Vance, Hello World, Floppy disk, computers, technology, Kyoto

Id: W8mX4cIgKHo

Length: 33min 48sec (2028 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 27 2016