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The present study investigated whether Japanese 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children exhibit a yes bias to questions from a physically present humanoid robot, Nao. The robot asked the children yes-no questions about familiar and unfamiliar objects. To both types of questions, the 3-year-old children exhibited a yes bias while the 5-year-old children exhibited a nay-saying bias to questions about unfamiliar objects. The 4-year-old children did not exhibit any response biases. These results were not dramatically different from children's response tendencies toward humans reported in previous studies. The results demonstrate that as children might not spontaneously discriminate a real humanoid robot from humans in social situations, they do not hesitate to answer its questions. Robot usage in education and childcare is discussed.

Aim/Purpose: Although many computer science measures have been proposed, visualizing individual students' capabilities is difficult, as those measures often rely on specific tools and methods or are not graded. To solve these problems, we propose a rubric for measuring and visualizing the effects of learning computer programming for elementary school students enrolled in computer science education (CSE), which is independent of the programming language being used. Background: In this research, we proposed a rubric based on existing CSE standards and criteria having a programming education-learning goal. We then applied this rubric to actual lessons to visualize the educational effects. Methodology: The proposed new rubric for teaching computer programming, based on existing standards and criteria, was applied to fourth- and sixth-grade students in Japan. We assessed which skills were cultivated through quizzes before and after the teaching. Contribution: This paper contributes on how to make and utilize a rubric for programming education in computer science. We evaluated and visualized the proposed rubric's learning effects on children and found that our proposed rubrics are independent of any particular method or tool. Findings: The results of this survey are twofold: (1) we proposed a rubric of programming education in computer science, independent of the programming tools used and (2) we succeeded in visualizing students' learning stages by applying the proposed rubric to programming education conducted in a Japanese elementary school. Recommendations for Practitioners: Evaluating educational effects in CSE is important. In particular, graded assessments of learner abilities can reveal individual characteristics. This research is useful for assessing CSE because it focuses specifically on programming education. Recommendations for Researchers: The rubric's suggestions and quality improvements in CSE help learners assess their learning progress and will clarify the cultivated computer science skills. Impact on Society This research evaluates CSE based on a rubric in the programming education field. Future Research: Future work is needed to improve the proposed rubric's quality and relevance. Also, this rubric should be applied to many classes to increase the number of evaluations and analyses.

Job interviews are significant barriers for individuals with autism spectrum disorder because these individuals lack good nonverbal communication skills. We developed a job interview training program using an android robot. The job interview training program using an android robot consists the following three stages: (1) tele-operating an android robot and conversing with others through the android robot, (2) a face-to-face mock job interview with the android robot, and (3) feedback based on the mock job interview and nonverbal communication exercises using the android robot. The participants were randomly assigned to the following two groups: one group received a combined intervention with "interview guidance by teachers and job interview training program using an android robot" (n = 13), and the other group received an intervention with interview guidance by teachers alone (n = 16). Before and after the intervention, the participants in both groups underwent a mock job interview with a human interviewer, who provided outcome measurements of nonverbal communication, self-confidence, and salivary cortisol. After the training sessions, the participants who received the combined interview guidance by teachers and the job interview training program using an android robot intervention displayed improved nonverbal communication skills and self-confidence and had significantly lower levels of salivary cortisol than the participants who only received interview guidance by teachers. The job interview training program using an android robot improved various measures of job interview skills in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

This paper reports how robot-assisted language learning (RALL) impacts Japanese adults' English speaking skills. With existing research on RALL focusing on children, there is little evidence indicating RALL's effects on adults. We developed a RALL system comprising a robot, a tablet, and designed learning materials for speaking practice. To explore the effects of this system on the speaking skills of adults, we conducted a pretest and posttest designed pilot experiment. The participants in this study were nine female Japanese university students. The participants used the system for speaking practice for a total of 30 min per day for 7 days. The results of comparing the pretests with the posttests demonstrated that the adults' English speaking skills were enhanced; in particular, their speaking accuracy, fluency, and pronunciation improved greatly. This study contributes to providing clear evidence of the effects of RALL on Japanese adults' English speaking skills.

The paper introduces and compares the use of current robotics kits developed by different companies in Japan for education purposes. These kits are targeted to a large audience: from primary school students, to university students and also up to adult lifelong learning. We selected company and kits that are most successful in the Japanese market. Unfortunately, most information regarding the technical specifications, the practical usages, and the actual educational activities carried out with these kits are currently available in Japanese only. The main motivation behind this paper is to give non-Japanese speakers interested in educational robotics an overview of the use of educational kits in Japan. The paper is completed by a short description of a new pseudo-natural language we propose for effectively programming one of the presented robots, the educational humanoid Robovie-X.

This paper describes a system called GENTORO that uses a robot and a handheld projector for supporting children's storytelling activities. GENTORO differs from many existing systems in that children can make a robot play their own story in a physical space augmented by mixed-reality technologies. Pilot studies have been conducted to clarify the design requirements of GENTORO from both technological and practical viewpoints. A user study indicates that GENTORO's ability to enable manipulation of a robot using a handheld projector in a physical space can enhance children's embodied participation in, and their level of engagement with, their storytelling activities, and can support children in designing and expressing creative and original stories. (Contains 2 tables and 10 figures.)

Science education is concerned with the meaningful pursuit of comprehension, knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes. In Vygotskian social constructivist learning, personal interpretation, decision-making and community cooperation fosters long-term understanding and transference of learned concepts. The construction of knowledge requires learners to be actively involved in the process of learning. For effective science learning to take place an instructor's pedagogical approach must be anchored in meaningful contexts so that students have actual opportunities to experience science. This paper presents the early stages of a research project that attempts to assess and define effective measurements for evaluating strategies for communicating science by using LEGO robots and Mindstorms™ RCX controllers that are collaboratively constructed and programmed by students using virtual technologies while physically situated in different locations.

Introduction: With advancements in communication technologies and internet connectivity, avatar robots for children who cannot attend school in person due to illness or disabilities have become more widespread. Introducing these technologies to the classroom aims to offer possibilities of social and educational inclusion. While implementation is still at an experimental level, several of these avatars have already been introduced as a marketable service. However, various obstacles impede widespread acceptance. Methods: In our explorative qualitative case study we conducted semistructured interviews with eight individuals involved in the implementation of the avatar robots AV1 in Germany and eleven participants involved with implementing OriHime in Japan. We analyzed and compared implementation processes, application areas, access and eligibility, and the potential and limitations of avatars at schools. Results: We identified structural similarities and differences in both countries. In the German cases the target is defined as temporary use for children who cannot attend school in person because of childhood illness, with the clear goal of returning to school. Whereas in Japan OriHime is also implemented for children with physical or developmental disabilities, or who cannot attend school in person for other reasons. Discussion: Our study suggests that avatar technologies bear high potential for children to stay socially and educationally connected. Yet, structures need establishing that grant equal access to avatar technologies. These include educational board regulations, budgets for funding avatar technologies and making them accessible to the public, and privacy protection standards that are adequate, yet do not create implementation hurdles that are too high. Furthermore, guidelines or training sessions on technical, educational and psychosocial aspects of including avatar technologies in the classroom for teachers are important for successful implementation. Since our Japanese cases suggest that expanding the area of application beyond childhood illness is promising, further research on the benefits for different groups is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the challenges posed by a rapidly aging society and its associated socio-economic difficulties, the Japanese government has encouraged the adoption of AI and robotics technologies for care. Conspicuous investments in these technologies in Japan underscore the dominance of techno-politics of innovation and the advocacy for the robotization of care practices. Such narratives — disseminated by the Japanese state, industry, media, and academia — often overlook the perspectives of the expected users of these technologies. This paper, rooted in a 14-month-long ethnographic study conducted at robotics labs in Japan and the UK in 2022–2023, examines the performance and ethical implications of technoscientific imaginaries portraying Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) as already reliable, safe, and efficient. It sheds light on the intricate relationship between science, technology, the state, and society, emphasizing their use as instruments of power for state-led national development objectives. Moreover, it exposes how technology is presented, creating an illusion of efficiency while neglecting the necessity of involving society in co-designing and co-producing these technologies. The paper ultimately advocates for responsible innovation, emphasizing in particular the need for user involvement to ensure these technologies are not only more efficient and reliable, but also more accessible, inclusive, and fairer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is the extended version of a paper presented at the conference HMM2021, about the history of mechanical engineering. First, the initial cultural and industrial steps in the robotic field in Japan are introduced, to display the beginning of this interlaced path, before WW2; then, in the context of the aftermaths of the war, some famous anime heroes are presented as ancestors of the coming mecha anime series. The rising research in the field of robotics and more generally the developments of contemporary Japanese automation industry are then drawn, as a technological substrate for mecha conception. In particular, Masahiro Mori studies are taken into consideration to identify an actual robot design pattern to apply to the following comparative description and examination of the different mecha; finally, thanks to this analysis, the common breeding ground whence robotics and mecha (and their reciprocal influences) arise, is outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Etsuko Ichihara is a media artist who utilises digital media and robotic technologies, exploring Japanese traditional beliefs of the spirit and the supernatural in her recent works. Ichihara repurposes paranormal and folk religious ideas concerning the figure of the shaman, an ogre-like demon that features in some Japanese festivals, and ritual offerings, but reinvents these traditional elements through technological mediation. I discuss Ichihara's distinctive engagement with a contemporised notion of spirituality in Japan. In particular, this essay argues that Ichihara's media art aims to connect Japanese people in order to create sociality and community. Ichihara appropriates Japanese animistic beliefs and tailors them for a mediated and technologised Japan, utilising what might be called a 'techno-spiritual Japanese-ness', that is, self-orientalising tropes that paradoxically generate the means for social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societies of the East are often contrasted with those of the West in their stances toward technology. This paper explores these perceived differences in the context of international ethics guidance for artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Japan serves as an example of the East, while Europe and North America serve as examples of the West. The paper's principal aim is to demonstrate that Western values predominate in international ethics guidance and that Japanese values serve as a much-needed corrective. We recommend a hybrid approach that is more inclusive and truly 'international'. Following an introduction, the paper examines distinct stances toward robots that emerged in the West and Japan, respectively, during the aftermath of the Second World War, reflecting history and popular culture, socio-economic conditions, and religious worldviews. It shows how international ethics guidelines reflect these disparate stances, drawing on a 2019 scoping review that examined 84 international AI ethics documents. These documents are heavily skewed toward precautionary values associated with the West and cite the optimistic values associated with Japan less frequently. Drawing insights from Japan's so-called 'moonshot goals', the paper fleshes out Japanese values in greater detail and shows how to incorporate them more effectively in international ethics guidelines for AI and robotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The elder population in Japan is increasing drastically, causing a number of issues that have not yet surfaced in most Western countries. Demographic data from Japan reveal that the Japanese have the longest lifespan globally, resulting in the world's highest population of older adults. Concurrently, the country has a rapidly declining birth rate. As the population ages, the workforce is shrinking and leaving a high number of elders with fewer caregivers to meet their needs. At present, the Japanese government is developing robotic care solutions to overcome the elder care labor shortage and implementing a new agenda to introduce social robots into the field. This article discusses professional women in Japan and their burden of caring for aging relatives and how introducing robotic care devices might reduce current anxieties regarding the provision of elder care. It analyzes the elder care strategies of 12 white-collar professional women in their forties and fifties and examines the extent to which gendered, expected at-home caregiving affects their professional commitments and associated anxieties. The findings below provide crucial insight into the most effective strategies that can be used by Japanese women to balance their careers with responsibilities to care for older relatives, particularly when it is impossible to predict the intensity of caregiving in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mirai. Estudios Japoneses is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This essay tracks the 'human' emergent in human-centred technologies (HCTs) in Japan. A primary aim of HCTs is to extract the true intention of the user and actualise it as machine action. Beyond this, HCT researchers maintained that creating such technologies would give them access to the truth of the human itself. In this essay, I examine the games of truth played in HCT, in which teachers exercise authority over students by defining their true intentions for them, and students learned what they needed to become good researchers. I then show how through analogical relations, human subjects with esteemed qualities became what HCTs must be, and HCTs a means for imagining what human beings truly are. What emerged were truths that transcended human and machine: all are systems of information and, in the end, the right machine can approach humanity enough to fulfil even the most human of responsibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To (1) examine the potentiality of using the robot PARO to mediate care provided by the family and (2) identify problems when utilizing PARO in the home context. Methods: Family members of 7 households were asked to use PARO for at least three times per week, over 1 to 3 months. Research data, including standardized assessments, interviews, and observations, were collected at initial and subsequent monthly visits. Collected data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and inductive thematic content analysis. Results: Out of the seven participants, five responded positively to PARO, thereby achieving their goals of improving activity engagement, relaxation, a respite from supervision, and improved mood. A positive initial interaction with PARO showed continued interest to it. Participants were observed to communicate with caregivers and relate to PARO. Discussion: The application of PARO at home is possibly influenced by the persons' initial level of interest toward PARO. It is crucial to perform careful observation and assessment before deciding to use PARO within the home context to support the life of older persons with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mirai. Estudios Japoneses is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study focuses on cultural differences in perceptions of comfortableness with robots that have either positive or negative anthropomorphic features. To clarify the effect of the valence of anthropomorphic features in addition to the effect of the number of features in different countries, this study investigated how Americans and Japanese perceive comfortableness with a positively or negatively featured robot. A total of 360 respondents (180 Americans and 180 Japanese) read a cover story about one robot. In the story, the valence and numbers of anthropomorphic features of the robot were manipulated and the respondents completed the comfortableness measurements including Comfort, Controllability and so on. The results demonstrated that Americans perceived more Comfort, Controllability, and Performance than did the Japanese respondents. The Americans show different levels of comfortableness perceptions in response to large number of features, and the Japanese respondents showed different levels of comfortableness in response to small number of features. We discuss the cultural background for the different patterns of perceived comfortableness between U.S. and Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using interviews, participant observation, and published documents, this article analyzes the co-construction of robotics and culture in Japan through the technical discourse and practices of robotics researchers. Three cases from current robotics research – the seal-like robot PARO, the Humanoid Robotics Project HRP-2 humanoid, and ‘kansei robotics’ – show the different ways in which scientists invoke culture to provide epistemological grounding and possibilities for social acceptance of their work. These examples show how the production and consumption of social robotic technologies are associated with traditional crafts and values, how roboticists negotiate among social, technical, and cultural constraints while designing robots, and how humans and robots are constructed as cultural subjects in social robotics discourse. The conceptual focus is on the repeated assembly of cultural models of social behavior, organization, cognition, and technology through roboticists’ narratives about the development of advanced robotic technologies. This article provides a picture of robotics as the dynamic construction of technology and culture and concludes with a discussion of the limits and possibilities of this vision in promoting a culturally situated understanding of technology and a multicultural view of science. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The challenges in developing a fruit harvesting robot are recognizing the fruit in the foliage and detaching the fruit from the tree without damaging either the fruit or the tree. The objectives of this study were to develop a real-time fruit detection system using machine vision and a laser ranging sensor and to develop an end effector capable of detaching the fruit in a way similar to manual pick. The Fuji apple variety was used in this study. In the detection of the fruit, machine vision was combined with a laser ranging sensor. The machine vision recognized the fruit and the laser ranging sensor determined the distance. The system detected a single fruit with 100% accuracy in both front and back lighted scenes with ±3 mm accuracy in distance measurement. To detach the fruit from the tree, an end effector was developed with a peduncle holder and a wrist; the peduncle holder pinches the peduncle of the fruit and the wrist rotates the peduncle holder to detach the fruit. Field test results of the end effector showed more than 90% success rate in detaching the fruit with average time use of 7.1 seconds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the general theme of wearable technology from an oblique angle — via performance studies — by examining the performative basis of interactions between humans and machines. The author considers the developing nature of human robot relations in Japan, and raises concerns relevant to discussions of wearable technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion plays a powerful role in the formation of scientific theories. By comparing the goals and practice of robotics and artificial intelligence in the US and Japan, differences between the two countries can be traced to their religious environments. Christian expectations of cosmic purpose and hope for salvation in purified, unearthly bodies leads to US researchers' preference for artificial intelligence over humanoid robots, a desire to see cosmic meaning in the development of that intelligence, and salvation of human minds in virtual, non-biological bodies. In Japan, robots, which have been the subjects of ritual consecrations and religious transcendence, participate in a fundamental sanctity of the natural world. A positive outlook on being human promotes a preference for humanoid robots and a future in which robots serve human beings, who do not forsake their bodies for virtual lives. Divergent scientific strategies cannot be separated from the religious worlds of their practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan, technological advances in robotics are commonly thought to be integral to facing the challenges of an ageing population. While some research has critically examined this link by investigating the cultural views of care workers in Japan who are positioned to engage with robotic technologies, scholarship focusing on the cultural practices of Japanese gerontechnology developers has remained sparse. The sociological study presented in this article seeks to address this research lacuna. The study finds that there is a tendency for Japanese roboticists to frame ageing as a growing crisis, to justify expenditure on robotic technologies. Additionally, there is a tendency for technology developers to adopt paternalistic design approaches, which often lack substantial input from older persons. However, a key claim of this article is that technology developers should not be conceptualized as a homogenous social group. Gerontechnology developers were found in this study to hold divergent views about the effectiveness of designer-centric approaches. Understanding how technology developers are multifaceted in the views they express and in the environments they work in is beneficial because it challenges the advocacy of more inclusive technology design approaches to be more complex and nuanced. • Japanese developers of care technologies hold stereotyped views of older people. • Resources are needed to promote more participatory technology design approaches in Japan. • Robot developers in Japan are not a homogenous social group. • The design of elder care technologies involves multiple actors, environments, and motivations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]