The Robot: Man's New Best Friend?

Introductory Paragraphs

What would Guy Montag have thought of AIBO, Sony's benign, pint-size robotic canine that recently barked and wagged its way into mainstream popular culture? Montag, the protagonist of Ray Bradbury's 1953 science fiction classic "Fahrenheit 451," was relentlessly trailed by a sinister mechanical hound programmed to inject its quarry with a powerful sedative then return it to the authorities of a repressive police state. Confronted by AIBO, Montag would probably have laughed; told that shoppers in Japan snatched up every last one of the Y250,000 robots in about 20 minutes, he would have howled in disbelief.

But robots are far from a laughing matter. Today they represent both the vanguard of humankind's technological innovations and the big business that drives development programs. In Japan, home to more than 50 percent of the world's industrial robots, people from all walks of life have grown accustomed to the proliferation of AIBO and similar "pets" (remember tamagochi, the virtual peep?) and wondered at the Honda humanoid robot, which can walk up and down stairs like a human. These are members of a "robot culture" that is steadily growing around the world.