Japan roboticists predict rise of the machines

Set in 2019, cult 80s movie "Blade Runner" envisaged a neon-stained landscape of bionic "replicants" genetically engineered to look just like humans.

So far that has failed to materialise, but at a secretive research institute in western Japan, wild-haired roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro is fine-tuning technology that could blur the line between man and machine.

Highly intelligent, self-aware and helpful around the house — the robots of the future could look and act just like humans and even become their friends, Ishiguro and his team predict.

"I don't know when a 'Blade Runner' future will happen, but I believe it will," the Osaka University professor told AFP.

Robotician Hiroshi Ishiguro, right, and his assistant posing next to one of his robots. AFP 

"Every year we're developing new technology — like deep learning, which has improved the performance of pattern recognition," he added.

"Now we're focusing on intention and desire, and if we implement them into robots whether they become more human-like."

Robots are already widely used in Japan — from cooking noodles to helping patients with physiotherapy.

Marketed as the world's first "cyborg-type" robot, HAL (hybrid assistive limb) — developed by Tsukuba University and Japanese company Cyberdyne — is helping people in wheelchairs walk again using sensors connected to the unit's control system.

Assistant for robotician Hiroshi Ishiguro "talking" with a robot. AFP

Scientists believe service robots will one day help us with household chores, from taking out the garbage to making the perfect slice of toast.

Wake up, time to die

But Ishiguro believes recent breakthroughs in robotics and artificial intelligence will accelerate the synthesis of man and machine.

"As a scientist, I hope to develop self-conscious robots like you see in 'Blade Runner' to help me understand what it is to be human," he said. "That's my motivation."

The point at which that line between humans and machines converges has long been a source of anxiety for some, as depicted in popular culture.

Palro, a robot developed by the Fujisoft company, on display during the Artificial Intelligence expo in Tokyo. AFP

In "Blade Runner", Harrison Ford plays a police officer who tracks down and kills replicates that have escaped and are living among the population in Los Angeles.

"I can't understand why Hollywood wants to destroy robots," shrugged Ishiguro, who in 2007 was named one of the top 100 living geniuses by global consultants firm Synectics. 

Uncanny valley

The ultimate goal, according to Ishiguro's colleague Takashi Minato, is "to bring robots into society as human companions -- it's possible for robots to become our friends."

Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori suggested in 1970 that the more robots resemble people, the creepier we find them — a phenomenon he called the "uncanny valley". 

Haru, an artificial intelligence-based conversation system developed by the Crystal Method company, on display. AFP

"Hopefully remote-control technology will develop to allow our alter egos to lead regular lives," he said.

"Like in the movie 'Surrogates' — that would make life more convenient," he added, referencing the sci-fi Bruce Willis hit in which people cocooned at home experience lives through robotic avatars.

While he won't put a date on a real-life "Blade Runner" future, Ishiguro claims the rise of the machines has already begun.

"Already computers are more powerful than humans in some cases," he said. "Technology is just another means of evolution. We are changing the definition of what it is to be human."

Agence France-Presse