AS A LONGTIME SCIENCE FICTION fixture, robots have made a distinct mark on world culture, from Maria in Fritz Lang's "Metropolis," to Osamu Tezuka's "Astro Boy" to the bumbling C-3PO from "Star Wars." Science fiction is slowly becoming science fact, and Timothy N. Hornyak, author of "Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots," said that different robotic developers speculate that humanoid consumer robots could be available for the mass market by 2020, if not sooner. Hornyak will be, as he says on his blog, preaching the gospel of robots at the Japan-America Society of Washington today at noon. Express spoke with Hornyak about his robot theories.

» EXPRESS: Where did your interest in robots come from?
» HORNYAK: I was really hooked on the idea that these robots are like a new emerging life form coming to the floor in Japan and how everyone is so excited over there to start a peaceful co-existence with robots. No robophobia over there.

» EXPRESS: Why are robots more popular in Japan then in America?
» HORNYAK: In Japan, the cultural reason was this amazing background of science fiction and incalculable effects of characters like Astro Boy, a hero robot on the Japanese public consciousness over there. Meanwhile in the west, we have robots like The Terminator. Sure we got some friendly robots, like C-3PO and R2-D2, but they're more comical in nature; nothing to really look up to. In Japan, they [also] have compelling practical reasons. Their population is starting to fall. The birthrate is one of the lowest in the world. That means, by 2050, a third of all Japanese are going to be over 50 or 60 years old. A lot of old people and not enough young people to take care of them. So where are all these workers going to come from to fill the gap in the work force. They're thinking robots are going to do it. They're thinking [they'll] get robots to take care of the old people.

» EXPRESS: What qualities would a robot that took care of the elderly need?
» HORNYAK: It will have to have quite a high level of artificial intelligence. It will have to be able to recognize objects in the room, like tables and chairs, people as well. The engineering aspect of building such home care robots is almost on the way to being solved I think. They do have humanoid machines like Promet, which can walk around pretty decently. It can recognize objects and converse. It's going to have to get more dexterous and quick, but its artificial intelligence will also have to be worked on.

» EXPRESS: What is the significance of making the robots look human in appearance?
» HORNYAK: One reason in practical. If the robot has a human-like body, it will be able to navigate features of the human environment — architectural environments like stairs, for example. You need legs to go up and down stairs. That's one side. On the other side, the Japanese think that if the robots look like them, it will feel closer to the robot. They will feel more comfortable with robots being in the home. If it's just a trashcan on wheels, they're going to like it, but I don't think it will really win their hearts like any of these cute robots, like QRio from Sony, could.

» EXPRESS: Are there any popular mass-market robots available now?
» HORNYAK: We already have Roomba, the iRobot vacuum cleaner robot. It's like a giant hockey puck with a little bit of artificial intelligence. That's great. I don't think the Japanese would have been happy with that kind of design aesthetic. I think they would have put a happy face on it, given it a squeaky voice, put ribbons on it and beautified the thing. But it's one version of the robot future. I think robots will come in all shapes and sizes in the future. They will do the tasks they're created for. Artificial intelligence is where it will be really exciting. I see a future of humans working together with artificial intelligences in areas like government.

» EXPRESS: Should workers be concerned with robots taking their jobs away?
» HORNYAK: Some people can be put out of work by robots and be left out in the cold. In Japan, they say because their unions are based in individual corporations generally — instead of industry-wide groups like United Auto Workers — when the robots replace them on the job, that company will take care of the worker and give them another job in the company. We should really try to go beyond the old Western stereotype of either robots killing us or robots stealing our jobs. Let's not fall into the old trap of seeing a potential rising intelligence power as an enemy. Let's try to look at in a different way. I think that's what the Japanese are doing.

» EXPRESS: Do any of the cinematic representations of robots seem like a possible accurate future?
» HORNYAK: Personally, I don't see the future as corresponding to any sci-fi movie exactly, because they're famously inaccurate. I would like to think that robots could be something like in a scenario in "I, Robot" the movie, where they're doing kind of everyday tasks. They're helping people.

» EXPRESS: Do you have a favorite robot?
» HORNYAK: I guess my all-time favorite would be Astro Boy. He's a fictional robot created by Osamu Tezuka back in the 1950s. I like him because he's kind of an ideal robot to which all robots can aspire.

» EXPRESS: On a more serious note, who would win in a fight: a robot, a pirate or a ninja?
» HORNYAK: Let me think, here. I think the robot would win because the other two just can't do anything to harm the robot. The pirate can take out his cutlass and take a few whacks at the robot, but the robots just laughing it off because morning stars, cutlasses, what have you, they can do nothing against a sturdy carbon fiber shell and laser beams if he has them. The robot is going to win that one hands down.

» Japan-America Society of Washington, 1819 L St. NW; noon, 202-833-2210 (Farragut North)

Photos courtesy Kodansha

Posted by Scott Rosenberg at 7:47 AM on October 2, 2006
Tagged in Entertainment