Will a robot child help boost fertility in Japan?

    Yotaro cries, laughs and kicks if you tickle him. He sneezes and has a runny nose. When he is upset, a rattle calms him.

    It would seem an ordinary child. But no, Yotaro is a robot. The developers hope that it will help to cope with the decline in fertility in Japan, which is one of the lowest in the world.

    “A robot cannot be human, but it’s great if this robot evokes human emotions and people want to have their own children,” says Hiroki Kunimura, project manager.

    Kunimura and a group of scientists from Tsukuba University created Yotaro with the original goal of creating a robot for which there would be no national and cultural boundaries. And since the baby has no speech skills, it was decided to create a baby robot.

    “People asked if we wanted to fight low birth rates with our robot,” says Kunimura, calling himself “daddy” Yotaro. Such an application was not the original purpose, but when Kunimura saw people touch and react to Yotaro's “behavior”, he saw such an opportunity.

    For high-tech Japan, Yotaro is an exceptionally simple robot. Emotions are simply programmed and projected onto the robot’s large head. Yataro's body is made of water-heated silicone. Runny nose is modeled simply by sluggish water. However, according to the developers, Yataro has an amazing effect on people.

    How it looks:

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    How it is done:

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    Watch the video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KORaNvRkE5k

    Prepared from CNN .

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