(Featured image from Telegraph)
When it comes to Japan and technology, trust us when we say that they spare almost nothing to remain outstanding. A few weeks ago, we posted up news about the country’s new ultra luxe train. You didn’t think we’d stop there, did you?
According to SlashGear, Japan has plans to stage a Robot Olympics in 2020 alongside the summer games which will be hosted in Tokyo. Of course, this isn’t the first of robot sports for Japan as they were the first to hold the annual international robotics competition, RoboCup. The name “RoboCup” is a contraction of the competition’s full name, “Robot Soccer World Cup” and this year, the world competition is in Brazil. Ironically.
We digress!
In line with Japan’s ongoing success with cutting-edge technology, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said that he wants to use such an event to showcase the latest global robotics technology, an industry in which Japan has long been famed as a pioneer. He has also outlined plans to create a special task force to develop a “robotic revolution” and treble the size of Japan’s robotics industry to a value of 2.4 trillion yen (£13.8 billion).
Jiji Press agency quoted Shinzo Abe as saying:
In 2020, I would like to gather all of the world’s robots and aim to hold an Olympics where they compete in technical skills. We want to make robots a major pillar of our economic growth strategy. We would like to set up a council on making a robotic revolution a reality in order to aid Japan’s growth.
We know you’re thinking, “Sure or not? 2020 is still quite a long way to go. Let’s just see if this really happens.”
Well, to put this into perspective, 2020 is only 6 years away.
On top of that, earlier in June, a humanoid robot named “Pepper” was unveiled amid much fanfare by major mobile phone company SoftBank. The makers claim that the white robot, which stretches 4ft in height, can understand people’s emotions. Not only that, it is apparently capable of understanding 70% – 80% of spontaneous conversation too.
Plus, with Switzerland planning to host the world’s first Cyborg Olympics in 2016 – where athletes with robotic enhancements will compete against one another – the idea of a Robot Olympics doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
So, wouldn’t a Robot Olympics in 2020 be totally cool if not friggin’ awesome? Exactly.
(Source)
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