NY Times Article On Robots And The Economy Is All Kinds Of Depressing
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Tuesday, 14 of July , 2009 at 5:21 am
It’s time for beggarbots to start looking out for themselves instead of their human masters, if the New York Times has it right. Here’s a few select quotes from the article, published on Sunday:
Japanese industrial production has plummeted almost 40 percent and with it, the demand for robots.
At the same time, the future is looking less bright. Tighter finances are injecting a dose of reality into some of Japan’s more fantastic projects , like pet robots and cyborg receptionists , that could cramp innovation long after the economy recovers.
Kenji Hara, an analyst at the research and marketing firm Seed Planning, says many of Japan’s robotics projects tend to be too far-fetched, concentrating on humanoids and other leaps of the imagination that cannot be readily brought to market.
“Japanese scientists grew up watching robot cartoons, so they all want to make two-legged companions,” Mr. Hara said. “But are they realistic? Do consumers really want home-helper robots?”
Robot Factory, once a mecca for robot fans in the western city of Osaka, closed in April after a plunge in sales. “In the end,” said Yoshitomo Mukai, whose store, Jungle, took over some of Robot Factory’s old stock, “robots are still expensive, and don’t really do much.”
The worst part of this is not what’s currently going on with robots and the economy, but what the implications are for the future. Of course we all want robot companions inspired by cartoons! We’re not there yet, but we can’t give up, and we need people to actually be working on that kind of thing. Obviously, industrial robots are stagnating in this economy. But in many ways, industrial robots have already made it over the acceptance hump that home robots are currently climbing. We know industrial robots work, we know they work well, we know they’re cost effective, and there’s a demand for them… None of these things are true, yet, for home robotics.
With that in mind, it does make economical sense to just hunker down at the moment and hope that eventual increasing demand for industrial robots will help to spur the development of home robotics. But once we get over that acceptance hurdle, it’s a new market, which would help the industry as a whole be more resilient to fluctuations disasters like this. I just wish I had the answer: that killer app that will make everyone want a robot in their house.
[ NY Times ] VIA [ Geekologie ]
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Category: Consumer, Industrial
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