日本机器人败走福岛核电站

    福岛当地的议员渡边裕之正在研究福岛员工的安全问题，同时充当他们的非官方发言人。他说：“未经训练的临时工人用簸箕把高辐射的水舀进桶里，他们迅速出门进门，以减少受到辐射的时间。”一位不愿透露姓名的员工说：“尽管日本号称拥有全球领先的高科技，但那些广受赞誉的人形助手没有一个派上了用场。”他指的就是日本的机器人项目。

    东京电力公司和日本政府正在仓促行动，希望得到机器人在损毁的反应堆中发挥更大作用。他们前往千叶大学（University of Chiba），向未来机器人技术中心（Future Robotics Technology Center）的救灾机器人专家取经。

    但是这些努力实在微不足道，而且也已经为时已晚。许多年来，耗费数十亿之资的日本机器人研发项目大多数都旨在开发家用助手，有的甚至被人们嘲笑为玩具，而并不像未来机器人技术中心那样开发具有实际功能的机器人。由于当局优先考虑让工厂和机器人助手去从事那些在世界其他地方由移民所从事的工作，更有用的机器人反而被边缘化了。

    日本的“机器人产业之父”约瑟夫•英格伯格说：“日本人喜欢给物品安上一张脸，让它们看起来像人类或者动物。这样做更多是为了娱乐，而不是为了实用。他们应该有能力担任更重要的工作。”（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    "Untrained casual laborers used dustpans to scoop up highly radioactive water into buckets; dashing in and out of doors to reduce their exposure times," says local Fukushima councillor Hiroyuki Watanabe who is studying Daiichi workers and acts as an unofficial spokesman for them. Says one anonymous worker "for all of Japan's high-tech prowess, none of those lauded humanoid helpers were any good at all," referring to Japan's robot programs.

    TEPCO and the Japanese government are scrambling now to get some stronger mechanical help into the stricken reactors, calling on the expertise of disaster robot specialists at Technology's Future Robotics Technology Center (fuRo) at the University of Chiba.

    But it seems too little, too late. For years much of Japan's robot research and development—billions of dollars worth—was aimed at developing humanoid helpers for the home derided by some as toys, not practical robots like those from fuRO. With authorities prioritising factory and helper humanoids to do the work immigrants do elsewhere in the world, more useful robotics were marginalised.

    "The Japanese like to put a face on things, to make them look like a humans or animals. It's more done for entertainment value than real practicality," says Joseph Engelberger the "father of the robotics industry" on Japan's robots. "They should be able to do more."