Japan’s robots: The future for intelligent machines?
All week on 5 live and across the BBC, we're taking a look at how intelligent robots are changing the world we live in.
Peter Allen has spent a few days in Tokyo finding out what's happening at the cutting edge of the robotics world, and what the future might have in store.
He started his trip at a Tokyo convention centre, where amateur robot engineers showed off their latest inventions. Expect robots who drum, moving flowerpots and a baby-sitter like no other.
Robot convention: Japan’s ‘weird and wonderful’ machines
Moving flowerpots, sporting robots, and mechanical drummers: in Tokyo's "Robot Corner."
He also ran into this pair of fighting robots.
***No robots were harmed in the making of this video***
Robot fight! Japanese machines take to the ring
Two robots do battle in Tokyo. Which will emerge victorious? Peter Allen commentates.
On Peter's next stop, he met "Pepper": a so-called "companion robot" that can read human emotions. Yusuke Abe, a developer at SoftBank robotics, explained what Pepper could do, and why it was proving popular in Japan.
Pepper: The emotional robot joining Japan’s workforce
Yusuke Abe, a developer at SoftBank robotics, talks about the capabilities of 'Pepper'.
The robots so far looked like robots, but what about the ones with more human-like features?
At the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, aka the Miraikan, he met Erica: a humanoid robot that looked and sounded like a real person.
He had some tough questions for her - to see if she could "think" like a human too.
Meet Erica: The robot who looks and talks like a person
Erica is a Japanese humanoid robot who answers back. Can she think like a person, too?
Related Links
For more information about the BBC’s Artificial Intelligence week, visit the BBC News website.
