A Japanese billionaire who purchased a robotics startup that makes petlike companions predicts the machines may be the key in filling the void in human hearts.
Yusaku Maezawa, a 46-year-old who started Japan’s largest online fashion, announced last month that his investment fund bought Groove X, the creator of LOVOT companions, according to CNN Business, which said the terms of the deal are not publicly known.
“I never imagined that a robot would heal me,” Maezawa said, according to a March 15 statement announcing the acquisition of the robotics startup. The purchase came a little more than two years after Maezawa said he wanted a female companion to take to the moon.
WATCH: NEW YORK FIRE DEPARTMENT DEBUTS ROBOT DOG SPOT
The pet-sized LOVOT companions, named via a combination of the words “love” and “robot,” move around on wheels and stir up a person’s “instinct to love,” according to the company’s website. The companions are able to respond to stimuli from humans through about 50 sensors and appear as stuffed animals with a camera fixed on their heads.
“LOVOTs will laugh if you tickle them. LOVOTs will be glad when you caress them. LOVOTs have touch sensors all over their bodies so that they can recognize where they are stimulated,” the website says. “The parallel link in their necks and their flexible shoulders enable LOVOTs’ shoulders and necks to move smoothly.”
Although LOVOTs are unable to clean or do physical work, Maezawa said there is “big potential in a presence that can make people feel happy,” especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
During the height of the health crisis, countries and localities instituted lockdowns in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. The restrictions also led to reports of more people facing mental health problems and suicidal thoughts.
“There’s a substantial amount of research in human-robot interaction that shows that people can develop genuine emotional attachments to robots, and that this is something that can be intentionally encouraged through design,” Kate Darling, a robotics specialist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, told CNN Business.
