A robopet revolution: the new breed of bots both bows and wows: just in time for Christmas, "comfort toys" promise comfort and jog. Cute, yes—but will consumers cuddle up? - Feature

Japan, Inc., Dec, 2003 by Tony McNicol

READERS LIVING IN TOKYO may have noticed a surprising number of Chihuahuas strutting down the sidewalks these days. According to the media here, Japan is in the throes of a "dog boom."

The roots of the craze seem to go back to a series of loan company commercials featuring an undersized canine and its besotted owner. This past summer, no TV commercial, billboard, fashion shoot or shopping trip was complete without a pedigree pooch. For a while it seemed like every second young woman on the streets of Ginza had a glistening nose and two glassy eyes poking out of her designer shoulder bag.

In fact, the number of dog owners has been rising strongly for several years. Japan Kennel Club membership has doubled since the late 80s. But it's not only the flesh and blood breeds that have been capturing Japanese hearts (and money).

Aibo, Sony's groundbreaking robot dog, toddled onto the scene in 1999. After the initial buzz around Aibo faded, many expected the current "boom" for living pets to send the silicon breeds off with their tails between their legs. But today, Aibo is just one of a mechatronic menagerie awaiting ownership in Japan's electronic boutiques and toy shops.

Toshiaki Haruna is a senior manager at Toys 'R' Us, Japan's largest chain of toy shops. He says that robot pets are one part of a trend for so-called "comfort toys" in which owners seek refuge from the stresses of 21st century life. The original comfort toy was probably the Tamagotchi, a concept hatched by Bandai back in the mid 90s, but over the last two or three years a high-tech Noah's ark of toy animals has become available. Sega Toys has sold 20 million Poo-chi toy dogs worldwide and 450,000 of its Yumeneko cats in Japan. Current hot sellers are TOMY's "Micro pets," tiny voice-activated animals that have become a worldwide craze. 5 million of the critters were sold in the first six months of production.

Intriguingly, while most of the products on Toys 'R' Us's shelves are targeted at zero to 15-year-olds, the comfort toys are bought by a much wider age range of consumers, including housewives and young male and female office workers. Haruna says that many customers are young women who come home and play with the toys in their one-person apartments (see sidebar on p. 43).

Most of the robot toys fit Toys 'R' Us's typical price range of up to [yen] 10,000. Anything more tends to make them too expensive for birthdays or Christmas. In fact, most of the toys on sale probably aren't sophisticated enough to qualify as robots anyway--at least not according to the Japanese Robot Association.

These days robots aren't just found on the assembly line. Shigeaki Yanai, a spokesman for the group, says that the original definition of a "manipulating robot" has been expanded to incorporate "service sector" robots, a category that includes entertainment robots. Robots have been designed for use in the construction industry and even to perform chores in the home. Entertainment robots like Sony's robot dog Aibo and Omron's alarmingly named NeCoRo robot cat aren't selling enough to warrant the Robot Association providing statistics just yet, but service sector robots already make up around 3 percent of robot production in Japan.

Among the small pack of products sophisticated enough to qualify as bona fide robots, Aibo is still the undisputed top dog. As much an executive plaything as a children's toy, the first models were snapped up by dot-com entrepreneurs and rich buyers. The first price tag of [yen] 250,000 certainly wasn't pocket money.

Following Aibo's initial success, in the summer of 2000, Sony set up the Entertainment Robot Company. J@pan Inc spoke to the company's president, Satoshi Amagai, at its Tokyo head office.

Our interview started with a demonstration of Aibo self-recharging. The robot gave a little commentary as it wiggled into position on its recharging station. The voice chosen for this version of Aibo sounds like that of a perky 10-year-old boy: "Here we go! Here we go! Docking!"

The most advanced Aibos are able to find their recharging stations by sight from up to 70cm away when their batteries are getting low. The company says that automatic recharging was top on owners' wish list for improvements.

Although an Aibo with the ability to recharge itself could be seen as a step forward for an independent pseudo-pet, Amagai stresses that the Entertainment Robot Company is not trying to duplicate animals. They are making Aibos, not living creatures. "We have no plans to copy animals or produce animal AI. Aibo can already do many things that a live animal cannot."

True enough. This pet dog can use a camera in its nose to send pictures to its owner's mobile phone. Some models can be remotely controlled by computer using Bluetooth. When you buy a new Aibo you can choose whether to load software to have a "grown-up" robot, or whether to teach and "raise" the robot yourself.

Recently the company has decided to concentrate on the Japanese market. Domestic sales now make up 80 percent of total sales. There has also been a precipitous drop in the product's price. New owners can now take an Aibo home for [yen] 85,000. Sales of the more expensive, self-recharging models have been discontinued for the moment.