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to simulate six basic expressions: anger, fear, sadness,

happiness, surprise and disgust,

CHINA VIEW is reporting March 2nd.

    Hooked up to a database of words clustered by association,

the robot – dubbed Kansei, or “sensibility” – responds to the word

“war” by quivering in what looks like disgust and fear.

It hears “love,” and its pink lips smile.

    “To live among people, robots need to handle

complex social tasks,” said project leader

Junichi Takeno of Meiji University.

“Robots will need to work with emotions,

to understand and eventually feel them.”

    While robots are a long way from matching

human emotional complexity, the country is perhaps t

he closest to a future – once the stuff of science fiction –

where humans and intelligent robots routinely live

side by side and interact socially.

    Robots are already taken for granted in Japanese factories,

so much so that they are sometimes welcomed

on their first day at work with Shinto religious ceremonies.

Robots make sushi. Robots plant rice and tend paddies.

    There are robots serving as receptionists,

vacuuming office corridors, spoon-feeding the elderly.

They serve tea, greet company guests and chatter away

at public technology displays.

Now start-ups are marching out robotic home helpers.

    They aren’t all humanoid.

The Paro is a furry robot seal fitted with sensors

beneath its fur and whiskers, designed to comfort the lonely,

opening and closing its eyes and moving its flippers.

    For Japan, the robotics revolution is an imperative.

With more than a fifth of the population 65 or older,

the country is banking on robots to replenish the

work force and care for the elderly.

    In the past several years, the government has funded

a plethora of robotics-related efforts, including some 4.6 billion yen

(US$42.7 million) for the first phase of a humanoid robotics project,

and 1.1 billion yen a year between 2006 and 2010 to develop

key robot technologies.

    The government estimates the industry could surge

from about 558 billion yen in 2006 to three trillion yen

in 2010 and nearly 7.5 trillion yen by 2025.

    Besides financial and technological power,

the robot wave is favored by the Japanese mind-set as well.

    Robots have long been portrayed as friendly helpers

in Japanese popular culture, a far cry from the often rebellious

and violent machines that often inhabit Western science fiction.

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Only a non feeling robot could live with Bill Clinton!