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The RI-MAN robot carries a life-sized doll at the Riken laboratory in Nagoya, central Japan. The RI-MAN is a seeing, hearing and smelling robot that can carry human beings and is aimed at helping care for the country's growing number of elderly.
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A Japanese-led research team said it had made a seeing, hearing and smelling robot that can carry human beings and is aimed at helping care for the country's growing number of elderly.
Government-backed research institute Riken said the 158-centimeter (five-foot) RI-MANhumanoidcan already carry a doll weighing 12 kilograms (26 pounds) and could be capable of bearing 70 kilograms within five years.
"We're hoping that through future study it will eventually be able to care for elderly people or work inrehabilitation center," said Toshiharu Mukai, one of the research team leaders.
Covered by five millimeters (0.2 inches) soft silicone, RI-MAN is equipped with sensors that show it a body's weight and position.
The 100-kilogram (220-pound) robot can also distinguish eight different kinds of smells, can tell which direction a voice is coming from and uses powers of sight to follow a human face.
"In the future, we would like to develop a capacity to detect a human's health condition through his breath," Mukai said.
Japan is bracing for a major increase in needs for elderly care due to a declining birth rate and a population that is among the world's longest living.
The population declined in 2005 for the first time since World War II as more young people put off starting families.
(Agencies)
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據日本一研究小組稱，研究人員已研制出一種能看、聽和識別氣味的“抱人”機器人，這種機器人將用于護理日本日趨增多的老年人。
由政府支持的日本物理與化學研究所（Riken）介紹說，這個名為RI-MAN的人形機器人身高1.58米，現已能抱起12公斤的人偶。5年內，它有可能背負70公斤的重量。
研究小組負責人之一向井壽治說：“我們希望，通過未來幾年的研究，RI-MAN機器人將能用于護理老年人，或者能在康復中心工作”。
RI-MAN機器人身體表面附有5毫米厚的軟性硅樹脂，它身上裝備的傳感器能夠顯示一個物體的重量和位置。
這個重達100公斤的機器人還可以分辨8種不同的氣味，識別聲音的來源方向，并能通過其視覺能力識別人的面孔。
向井說：“未來，我們將繼續挖掘它的潛力，能讓它通過呼吸判斷人的健康狀況。”
由于日本的出生率不斷下降，而且日本人普遍長壽（人口平均壽命在世界上最長），所以日本老年人護理業亟需人手。
2005年，日本人口自“二戰”結束后首次出現負增長，這和越來越多的年輕人延遲結婚有關。
(中國日報網站編譯) |
