Robotik: Amerikanske og japanske tendenser

The article “We Should Be Friends” is from the American paper named Newsweek, from the 8th of August, 2008. The article explains the differences between Asian and American robot trends, and how they differ from one another. The article introduces some of the robots as well as the different levels of ambition from both sides. For example, the American robots are much more task-specific meaning that they’re typically only developed to complete a simple task, to increase the cost-benefit of the American companies, and to perfect a single task. The Japanese companies such as Toyota and Honda, however, are attempting to create much more complex robots, which can assist humans with a wider variety of tasks. As such, the Japanese levels of ambition are much higher as it requires much more technology and development to create a single robot which can handle all of these tasks.The article also explains how famous tech people such as Bill Gates and the co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, predict robot technology to be the next “big thing”.

The Japanese government has already invested several hundred millions in robot technology and expects the market to grow much larger within the next 20 years. The American government has invested as well, although not nearly as much.