機器人的神奇功能

文/新井健生（Tatsuo Arai，日本） 譯/唐慶超

新井健生（Tatsuo Arai，日本），北京理工大學(xué)教授，日本大阪大學(xué)名譽教授。主要研究方向為微型機器人在生物學(xué)中的應(yīng)用。

In recent years, the worldwide problem of aging has become more serious, and Japan is of no exception. Faced with a shrinking workforce of young adults, a decline in the number of newborns and an increasing number of aging population, what should people do?

Developing the magical function of the robot is an idea to solve the problem. How to make robots and how to use them will become imcreasingly important topics in the future. I will start by introducing the types of robots to lead you into a new world of robots step by step.

There are many types of robots with various uses. It is not easy to introduce them one by one.

The robot Atlas which looks as agile as the Monkey King, can easily surpass various obstacles by jumping. It has excellent athletic ability to make itself an excellent athlete!

If you haven’t seen Erica before, you probably wouldn’t have thought that there are now robots so similar to real people. Erica looks like an Asian girl with brown hair and a cute face. I haven’t thought about what purpose should Erica serve yet, but maybe one day, Erica will chat with you like a real person, and accompany you when you are bored!

There are many experts who specialized in making high-simulation robots like Erica. Professor Ishiguro has made a robot based on his own image. The faces of the professor and the robot are highly similar which makes the picture of them standing together really amazing!

Of course, in order to pursue some special functions, the appearance of the robot will also change accordingly. The design inspiration and appearance of Astarisk comes from a spider. It has 6 legs, which can not only crawl, but also grab objects like a hand. The 6 legs give it excellent crawling ability, making it easy to reach the place where humans are difficult to get to. What an enviable magical function of the robot!

近年來，世界范圍內(nèi)人口老齡化問題越發(fā)嚴重，日本也不例外。面對青壯年勞動力人口減少、新生兒數(shù)量下降、老齡化人口不斷增加的現(xiàn)狀，人們該何去何從？

開發(fā)機器人的神奇功能是解決問題的一個思路。如何制作機器人，如何利用機器人，將成為未來的重要課題。我將從介紹機器人的種類開始，一步步帶領(lǐng)大家進入一個機器人的新天地。

機器人種類繁多，用途多樣，想一個個介紹清楚它們可不容易。

有一種蹦蹦跳跳能輕松翻越各種障礙，看起來和孫悟空一樣靈敏的機器人阿特拉斯，它就有著極為出色的運動能力，可是個優(yōu)秀的運動員呢！

如果沒有見過埃里卡，小朋友們大概不會想到現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)有和真人如此相似的機器人了吧！埃里卡外表上看起來就像一個有著棕色頭發(fā)、可愛面容的亞洲女郎。我現(xiàn)在還沒有想好埃里卡的用途，但或許某一天，埃里卡會像真人一樣和你聊天，在你無聊的時候陪伴你！

制作像埃里卡這樣高仿真機器人的專家可不少，石黑教授就制作了一款以他自己為原型的機器人。教授和機器人面容高度相似，他們站在一起的畫面可真是太不可思議了！

當然，為了追求一些特殊功用，機器人的外表也會隨之發(fā)生變化。阿斯塔里斯克的設(shè)計靈感和外表就來自蜘蛛，它有著6條腿，不僅可以爬行，還能像手一樣抓取物體，6條腿賦予它出色的爬行能力，使它可以輕輕松松到達人類很難觸及的地方。這是多么讓人羨慕的機器人的神奇功能呀！

此外，還有一類可以用來攀爬的機器人，它們爬起墻來可是一把好手，清潔各種高層建筑或橋梁支柱等不在話下。用于負重的機器人也不能少，機器人大狗的名字很可愛，事實上它可以在復(fù)雜地形條件下搬運重物，是非常實用的機器人。野貓顧名思義，有著快速移動的能力，奔跑速度可達40km/h。

有一類機器人大家可能常常忽視，或感到困惑，那就是自動駕駛汽車。事實上，這也是一種機器人。工廠領(lǐng)域也存在很多機器人的身影，如可以用來抓取、組裝、焊接等的工業(yè)手臂和機床。

制造和使用機器人已經(jīng)成為全世界的共識。2013年，多用途工業(yè)機器人的使用量顯示，日本以23%的份額占據(jù)世界第一的位置，其次是占據(jù)14%份額的美國。然而，兩年后的2015年，日本份額下降至18%，緊隨其后的是占據(jù)16%份額的中國，一舉躍居世界第二。而到2018年，中國已躍居世界第一。中國的工業(yè)機器人使用量正在高速增長當中。

在全球機器人數(shù)量高速增長的背后，實際上是多數(shù)國家普遍面臨的一個問題——人口老齡化。日本的人口老齡化問題尤其突出。老齡化社會導(dǎo)致勞動人口迅速減少，將會給工業(yè)和經(jīng)濟帶來嚴峻的挑戰(zhàn)。

中國也存在類似的人口老齡化情況，隨著時間的推移，中國的老年人口也將不斷增加，勞動力進一步減少。未來誰來工作成為老齡化社會亟須解決的難題。

外表近似蜘蛛、擁有出色爬行能力的機器人

In addition, there is a class of robots that can be used for climbing. They are good at climbing up walls and can clean up various high-rise buildings or bridge pillars, which greatly reduces the danger of humans working at heights. The robots designed to carry heavy loads are also indispensable. The robot Big Dog has a very cute name. In fact, it is a very practical robot which can carry heavy objects on complex terrains. It looks like a big steel dog. Wild Cat, as the name suggests, has a fastmoving ability. It’s running speed can reach 40 km/h.

There is a type of robot that people may often overlook or be confused upon. That is the self-driving cars. In fact, this is a type of robot, too. In addition, there are also many robots in the factories, such as industrial arms and machine tools that can be used to grasp, assemble, and weld.

Manufacturing and using robots has become the consensus of the world. In 2013, the estimated operational stock of multipurpose industrial robots showed that Japan ranked first in the world with a 23% share, followed by the United States with a 14% share. However, in 2015, two years later, Japan’s share fell to 18%, followed by China with 16% of the share, ranking second in the world in one fell swoop. By 2018, China has leapt to number one in the world. China’s industrial robots are growing rapidly.

Behind the rapid global increase in the number of robots is actually a problem commonly faced by most countries’ aging populations. Japan’s aging problem is particularly prominent. An aging society has led to a rapid decrease in the labor force, which will cause serious damage to industry and economy.

于是，機器人應(yīng)運而生。

未來，人們不僅需要更多的工業(yè)機器人，也需要更多的服務(wù)型機器人。這些機器人可用于家務(wù)、護理、醫(yī)療、安全保衛(wèi)等人們生活的方方面面，本用于工業(yè)的機器人也將逐漸走進人們的生活。

大家在家里常用的掃地機器人其實就是一個典型的服務(wù)機器人。此外，服務(wù)型機器人還有校園、機場、小區(qū)等常用來巡邏的保安機器人，長得像小海豹的安撫型機器人。對于行動不便的患者而言，還有專用來日常護理的機器人，可滿足患者日常飲食起居的需要。

服務(wù)型機器人還包含娛樂機器人，可以像真人一般唱歌跳舞、吹奏音樂；也可用于教育，或許未來的某一天，機器人也可以成為老師站上講臺呢！

還有一些醫(yī)療服務(wù)機器人，可用來做微創(chuàng)手術(shù)，相對于人類而言，醫(yī)療機器人更為精確、冷靜，更少會有體力和心理負擔(dān)。我的實驗室里就開發(fā)了不少這樣的醫(yī)療機器人。

事實上，建筑機器人在機器人領(lǐng)域也占據(jù)著重要的地位，日本從20世紀70年代便開始研發(fā)建筑機器人，這些機器人可用來攪拌混凝土、焊接鋼架、噴涂防火材料等。然而，建筑機器人投入使用的過程卻一直不太順利，畢竟那時，青壯年勞動力充足，雇用建筑工人的成本可比使用機器人低多了。但對于如今步入老齡化社會的日本來說，建筑機器人可就能起大作用了。

農(nóng)業(yè)領(lǐng)域同樣存在機器人的身影，如用來自動播種收割的機器人、可遙控割草的機器人等。

可用于日常護理的機器人

China also has a similar situation. Over time, China’s elderly population will continue to increase and the labor force will further shrink. This will become an urgent problem for an aging society in the years to come.

In this case, robots came into being.

Robots can take on most of the work: they can act as construction workers to build homes, as nurses to take care of children, as doctors to perform operations on people, and they can become teachers and so on. In an aging society, there is a shortage of labor which robots can fill up.

The function of the robot is not only as is mentioned above. In the future, people will not only need more industrial robots, we also need more service robots. These robots can be used in all aspects of people’s lives, such as housework, nursing, medical care, security and so on. Robots originally used in industry will gradually enter people’s lives.

The sweeping robot commonly used in your home is actually a typical service robot. In addition, service robots include security robots commonly used for patrols on campuses, and healing robot which looks like a small seal. For patients with limited mobility, there are also robots dedicated to daily care, which can meet the daily needs of patients in diet.

Service robots also include entertainment robots, which can sing, dance, and play music like real people; they can also be used for education. Perhaps one day in the future, robots can also become teachers on the podium!

There are also some medical service robots that can be used to perform minimally invasive surgery. Compared with humans, medical robots are more precise, calmer, and have less physical and psychological burden. Many such medical robots have been developed in my laboratory.

In fact, construction robots also occupy an important position in the field of robotics. Japan has been developing construction robots since the 1970s. These robots can be used to mix concrete, weld steel frames, spray fireproof materials, and so on. However, the process of putting construction robots into use has not been smooth all the way. After all, at that time, they had sufficient young and middleaged people to work, and the cost of hiring construction workers could be much lower. But for Japan, which is now entering an aging society, construction robots can play a bigger role.

在中國，我們也可以看見許多機器人的身影，并且許多已進入市場及人們的日常生活了，如酒店和餐廳常常使用的送餐機器人、展館和校園內(nèi)使用的保安機器人、用來啟智的機器人玩具等。

介紹了這么多種機器人，大家想必也非常好奇機器人是如何制作出來的吧。以下是機器人的設(shè)計理念。

我們需要通過對形態(tài)、功能和生命智能進行建模來設(shè)計自動化的機器和系統(tǒng)。機器人的形態(tài)一般參考各種生命形態(tài)，如蜘蛛、海豹等，也可以參考人類的形態(tài)。而機器人的功能包括攀爬、運輸、醫(yī)療等，其形態(tài)需要根據(jù)功能來進行調(diào)整。最后，我們需要賦予機器人生命智能，以實現(xiàn)其自動化運作。

雖然沒有像哆啦A夢這樣神奇的機器人，機器人的智能水平也達不到人類的水平，但機器人給人類帶來的便利已經(jīng)滲透到人們生活的方方面面。從大的方面來說，它們足以支持一個國家的經(jīng)濟發(fā)展，填補勞動力空缺；從小的方面來說，它們可以陪伴你、照顧你、治愈你。可以說，總有一天我們需要的東西會被機器人實現(xiàn)。機器人在大小和功能上的優(yōu)勢是人類無法企及的，而且它們還有最溫暖人心的使命——讓人類生活得更幸福。

我在實驗室里就設(shè)計了一款微型機器人，它可以抓取1毫米的物體，甚至可以抓取細胞，如此精確的能力讓它在醫(yī)療生物領(lǐng)域可以發(fā)揮巨大的作用，如通過抓取細胞來查探人體細胞的狀態(tài)，甚至可以用來克隆。

了解了這么多神奇的機器人，想必小朋友們也對機器人世界產(chǎn)生了不小的興趣，希望未來會有更多人在機器人領(lǐng)域取得成就，戰(zhàn)勝人口老齡化！

可抓取1毫米大小物體的機器人

There are also robots in the agricultural field, such as robots for automatic sowing and harvesting, robots that can remotely mowing grass, and so on.The application of agricultural robots has greatly improved the efficiency of agricultural work. By controlling the robots, more things can be accomplished with less human interference, and the number of labor requirements will be reduced.

In China, we can also see many robots, and many have already entered the market and people’s daily lives. For example, food delivery robots often used in hotels and restaurants, security robots used in exhibition halls and campuses, robot toys used to inspire intelligence and so on.

After introducing so many kinds of robots, everyone must be very curious about how robots are made. The following is the design concept of the robot.

We need to design automated machines and systems through modeling morphology, functions, and intelligence of life. The shape of the robot generally refers to various life forms, such as the spiders and seals that appeared in nature. It can also refer to human forms and so on. The functions of the robot include climbing, transportation, medical treatment, etc. The shape needs to be adjusted according to the function. Finally, we need to give the robot life intelligence to realize its automated operation.

Although there is no magical robot like Doraemon, and the level of intelligence of robots cannot reach the level of human beings, the convenience brought by robots to humans has penetrated into all aspects of people’s lives. Their roles can be large enough to support a country’s economy and fill labor vacancies, yet also small enough to accompany you, take care of you, and heal you. It can be said that what you need will be realized by robots one day. They have advantages in size and function that humans cannot reach, and they have the most heartwarming mission-to make human life happier.

I designed a miniature robot in my laboratory. It can grasp objects as small as one millimeter, and even grasp cells. Such precise capabilities allow it to play a huge role in the field of medical biology. For example, by grabbing cells to investigate the state of human cells, it can even be used for cloning.

Knowing so many magical robots, presumably children have also developed a lot of interest in the world of robots. I hope that more and more people will make achievements in the field of robots in the future and overcome the problem of aging population!