What the Japan Olympics Teaches Us About the Role of Robots | Robotics - Grit Daily

Tony Saldanha, News Columnist at Grit Daily observes, I departed from Narita airport in Japan last week without seeing an Immigration Officer.

What the Japan Olympics Teaches Us About the Role of Robots
Photo: Grit Daily

No, this wasn’t a Carlos Ghosn type stunt of being smuggled out in a cello case. The departure immigration was handled via robotic lanes using a scanned passport and facial recognition. It was a great feeling. I now know what a fenced-in dog feels like when it comes across an open gate. A feeling of “is this really possible, or will I get yelled at the minute I step through the gate?”  

It went smoothly, nobody yelled, and I was through without facing an immigration official. I have nothing against them as a breed, and Japanese immigration officers are certainly among the nicest. 

It’s just that all immigration staff give me a feeling of standing in court in front of a magistrate. After 30 seconds you’re ready to confess to all your transgressions. “All right, all right, I’ll spill the beans, please go easy on me. I didn’t use the cross-walk yesterday when crossing the road!”

Japan has always been on the forefront of robotics...

Robots are contentious. They can inspire feelings of hope (e.g. nursing home robots), curiosity (e.g. Roomba cleaning robots) or simply aversion (e.g. unrestricted use of facial recognition by some governments). What if reality was nuanced? What if all of the above had some element of truth?
Read more...

Source: Grit Daily