Giant robotic teddy bear: Japan's nurse of the future

The population of Japan is ageing, and fewer children being born. This creates a variety of problems -- not the least of which is a shortage of caregivers for the elderly, as the elderly population grows while the younger population shrinks. To help compensate, the country has been exploring a different solution: robots. ROBEAR is actually the third iteration of the bear-faced bots, the first and second of which were named RIBA and RIBA-II respectively -- although none have arrived on the market yet. "The polar cub-like look is aimed at radiating an atmosphere of strength, geniality and cleanliness at the same time," research team leader Toshiharu Mukai told AFP. "We voted for this design among options presented by our designer. We hope to commercialise the robot in the not-too distant future." ROBEAR makes several improvements on its predecessor, RIBA-II. It's much lighter, weighing 140 kilograms to RIBA-II's 230 kilograms, and has a smaller base, making it more compact and manoeuvrable. CNET