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Robots that ‘Care’

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Japanese Robot Culture

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Abstract

Taking ideas of the theatrical encounter in the Japanese context into situations of close physical proximity, this chapter critically examines the assumptions that have guided the development of robots designed to interact with the elderly. The use of the ‘social’ robot for aged care is highly calculated, designed so that users will adapt to and align themselves with the robots in the context of games and prompted conversations that facilitate the users’ responses. It also raises ethical issues. Researchers are aware that the users may not be fully aware, depending on their health status, of the nature of the solicitous object. The final part of this chapter examines performative parallels between manga/anime that include narratives of robots used in aged care and related occurrences in real situations. These correlations suggest a deep social entanglement with robots in Japan, even in the conceptualising of aged care.

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  1. Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

    Yuji Sone

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  1. Yuji Sone
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Sone, Y. (2017). Robots that ‘Care’. In: Japanese Robot Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52527-7_8

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