Humanoid Robots Speak to the Soul

For decades, robots have logged yeoman duty in the workplace, welding the frames of cars, wielding micro-scalpels in the surgical theatre, plunging into burning buildings, and exploring space. For such dangerous, dirty or repetitive tasks, design has always been dictated by function and efficiency. The notion of building robots that look nice was not merely unnecessary, it was counterproductive.

But in recent years humanoid robots have begun to garner renewed interest. Nowhere more than in Japan, which has been mad about artificial beings ever since an avuculuar cartoonist named Osamu Tetsuka created his plucky 'bot hero, Astro Boy, in 1951. As the children of the Astro Boy generation come of age, serious money and attention is being lavished on inventing humanoids that not only entertain their masters, but could be considered a member of the family.

One of the most energetic apostles of the humanoid movement is Tokyo-based designer Tatsuya Matsui, 34, whose own contribution includes a childlike 'bot named Posy. With her pageboy coiffure, Hello-Kitty eyes and fussy gown, alabaster Posy represents a clean break with the usual race of testosterone-pumped, he-male robots, a la Robocop, the Terminator, or even Astro Boy. In appearance and temperament, Posy is definitely more parts Haley Joel Osment than Arnold Schwarzennegger.

Modeled after the flower girl at a wedding, Posy is something of the wallflower when it comes to pyrotechnics. Propelled by wheels instead of the far more technically complex pair of legs, the pint-sized android can't mimic that lunging Monty Python gait mastered by Honda's Asimo bipedal 'bot. She can't do tricks like Sony's frolicking digital puppy, Aibo, nor is she equipped to recognize speech like many off-the-shelf toys. Her subtle movements and gestures, programmed anew for each fashion show or store opening, are limited to shyly flailing her sectioned limbs, swiveling her face fetchingly or circling the flesh-and-blood ballet dancer, opera diva or catwalk model sharing center stage. A clearly unmoved BBC announcer carped about Posy's resemblance to an "upmarket drinks trolley." Immune to such barbs is Matsui, whose lanky features and rock-star mane endear him to the camera as much as his fiberglass progeny.

"We keep being asked what Posy is for and what it does," says the designer, from the spare but high-rent offices of his four-man firm, Flower Robotics, Inc. Well? "We're not a corporation. We didn't try to stuff Posy with high-tech so that she could perform all kinds of labor-saving chores for us. We didn't intend to set up an assembly line and manufacture millions of units." Posy exists simply "to make us happy. We're trying to get the message across, that technology can also serve this purpose." In his quest for esthetic perfection, Matsui seeks to do for robots what Steve Jobs did for computers.

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"Today, we are using technology to further an agenda of destruction and violence, which is why—more than ever—we need to rethink its role in our society and make sure that it is only used to better humanity. By creating Posy, I hope to unleash a weapon of peace—a reminder that one small robot's step is a giant leap toward a peaceful and equitable future for all."
—Tatsuya Matsui