Robot popularity contest! Shibuya gals tell all
I have here in my hands a copy of Robot Life, a new Japanese magazine hot off the press. Well, it came out earlier this month but it's still toasty warm. It's a glossy, colorful zine full of humanoid robot pics, the remote-controlled creations of Tomotaka Takahashi (his Manoi is on the cover), ads by robot makers, and a manga comic strip by Tachiaoi Honda about a rather pathetic-looking robot buffalo discovered in the trash.
Published by Tokyo-based Nestage, Robot Life tips the scales at a respectable 140 pages. That's flyweight compared to the average phone directory-sized manga zine, but still an impressive debut. Aside from an interview with Takahashi, the first edition has profiles of all the latest humanoid and RC robots in Japan, a photo of the Danish ambassador hugging Paro the robot seal, and coverage of several robot soccer, combat and other tournaments.
What piqued my interest was a straw poll in which 500 people were asked to choose their fave robot out of ten candidates. Naturally it was done on the streets of Tokyo's hyper-hip Shibuya, a neighborhood perhaps best described as a Blade Runner set with about a trillion people thronging its neon tributaries. Young females, the arbiters of future fashion, are often polled there, and they seem to have been the only voters this time.
So who scored with the Japanese ladies? The results weren't surprising to this scribe. Manoi was outvoted in favor of the effete Wakamaru, ranking sixth to the bubble-head's third. But both got less love than top-ranked PaPeRo, a helpless-looking childcare machine from NEC, and Ifbot, a chatty chum for oldsters from Business Design Laboratory.
Analysis: The kawaii factor was decisive. Though some women had eyes for "muscular" bots like bottom-ranked Robonova, cuteness won the day. PaPeRo's candy color scheme and round lines proved more attractive than the most studly machines. This proves beyond doubt that when robots take over, they will be in the form of face-meltingly cute toys. We'll be the new playthings.
The complete robot popularity ranking from Robot Life:
- PaPeRo
- Ifbot
- Wakamaru
- Robofie VS-1
- Nuvo
- Manoi PF01
- Vision Nexta
- KHR-2HV
- RB 1000
- Robonova I
posted by Tim at 9:52 AM
4 Comments:
No Actroid-chan? BAH! The polls were rigged!
However, I'm surprised that Pero didn't make the cut, either..
That's a fab-looking magazine. I might have to look into getting at least the first issue..
Well, the poll was done in Shibuya, not Akihabara! Repliee and Actroid would have surely topped the list there. Don't know why Paro wasn't on the Shibuya list. Since it looks the most helpless of all, it would have won.
When I was a kid in the 60's I had several toy robots that ran on batteries. Is there still this fascination by children with these mechanical men? I remember the thrill of getting one particular robot on Christmas morning, he walked with a grinding sound with eyes that glowed red whenever he stopped. What drove this 60's craze? Also, what are these vintage robots worth today.
Kids today demand robots on roids. No more quaint Robby the Robot walkers and smokers. Speaking of which, I've seen vintage robot toys from the 1950s and 60s selling for insane amounts at shops by the Mandarake manga outlet in Nakano, Tokyo. Your dusty old bot could be worth plenty o' yen.
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