Educational Media Reviews Online

This film discusses the development of robots, through an engineering and scientific standpoint. Highlighted are Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro’s research on robotics and his studies regarding the fundamentals of the human-machine relationship. Ishiguro discusses the different types of robots – androids, geminoids and humanoids. He states that robots need to have “sonzai-kan,” which is a human presence of someone or something. Ishiguro has created several robots, one of which is in the likeness of himself. Throughout the film, the viewer sees part of the process he has gone through to create these robots and in the final experiment, how his daughter and wife react to his likeness in robotic form.

Paro is another robot mentioned in this film. Paro is a cute, cuddly baby seal created by Professor Takanori Shibata. Paro is seen as a pet or welfare robot. It can also be called a therapeutic robot. Paro has been given to a number of people including residents in nursing homes. One resident, who received Paro finds that it gives her much joy and provides comfort. It is touching to see how much she likes it. Paro has also been given to patients with dementia. The result of this experiment showed that brain activity was increased when the patients were holding Paro. Not only do we see how the elderly react to Paro but we also see how the staff of the residences react to Paro. The reactions are quite different. Some employees have moral misgivings about Paro and feel that the residents are not being treated properly. Others feel unsure about Paro and that it is almost inappropriate for an elderly woman to have a “toy” like that. Still others feel that the physical contact is important and the residents are able to give something to another, showing how communication through touch is beneficial.

This film seems to focus mainly on the variety of reactions of those who have come in contact with the robots mentioned. Developing the “sonzai-kan” of robots is important. Its secondary purpose is to introduce the science and engineering of robotics. At times, this film is hard to follow. It does not always flow easily from one subject to the next. This film is subtitled. Some of the footage seems unnecessary at times, like the shots of Ishiguro watering his plants and waking up in the morning. These shots could be used to show the viewer Ishiguro’s normal routine so that one could envision a robot doing these activities instead of a human. The subject matter and robots are at times a little eerie, since they are so lifelike, especially the robot in the likeness of Ishiguro. This film represents one perspective of the future of science and engineering.