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(★)(Japan, Mechatronics, and the Coming Robotopia)(The Japanese call their nation ´robotto okoku´, the ´Robot Kingdom´. And for good reason. A visitor to Japan today will see robots making sushi, robots starring in feature films and comic books, and robot factories turning out sophisticated parts assemblies with almost no human intervention. This book is a guide to that kingdom. It is also a warning. To remain competitive, says author Frederik L. Schodt, Western nations must discard their suspicions of soulless humanoid machines. The threat from robots today comes not from the fear that they will turn upon their masters, but from the fact that whoever controls robots controls the future of world manufacturing. Right now, Japanese robotics applications are so far advanced that it may already be too late for other nations to catch up.／ How has Japan done it? Relying on personal interviews and research in Japan, Schodt charts the course of Japanese robotics development. He tells the story of Japan´s first ´robot´ --a tea-carrying doll-- and introduces the ´Japanese Thomas Edison´, a nineteenth-century genius named Hisashige Tanaka. The Japanese passion for mechanisms is examined in the light of religion and culture. So is the claim that robot toys and comic books have been crucial to the widespread acceptance of robotization at all levels of society.／ Most of Japan´s modern technology, however, has come from America and Europe. Schodt details how Japan first borrowed and then refined ´robotics´ into ´robotics synergy´, enabling Japanese corporations to cut costs, maintaining quality, and hold on to a manufacturing base onshore even as they set up strategic industrial beachheads overseas.／ But while the Japanese establishment boasts of robotization as an unqualified success, Schodt shows that there is another, darker reality. Many smaller companies have been destroyed, and some Japanese industries --such as the toy robot industry-- still rely on cheap hand labor and antiquated working conditions. There are issues of job security, retraining, and safety. An entire chapter on the legendary Fanuc Ltd. reveals how the world´s leading producer of industrial robots is increasingly beset by domestic competitors at home and shaky agreements with overseas partners. The government´s futuristic program on advanced robotics is presented as a noble concept hobbled by factionalism and design problems.／ Nevertheless, robotization in Japan is moving ahead rapidly. Here is its story, the facts, and the reasons Western nations must act now. It is the responsibility of everyone who reads this book to decide whether to meet or be defeated by the challenge the Robot Kingdom presents.／ ◆Frederik L. Schodt is a San Francisco-based translator and interpreter for Japanese and American corporations. He writes frequently on Japanese culture and technology and is a regular contributor (in Japanese) to the Japanese industrial magazine ´Anzen´.／) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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