Japanese students have created a robot that looks like a baby to get couples to have children. The birthrate in Japan is falling. The population may shrink by a third over the next 50 years. The students hope their new robot baby will reverse this trend. The baby is called Yotara. It really looks and acts like a real baby. It giggles, wakes up when it hears a rattle and smiles when someone rubs its tummy. Project leader Hiroki Kunimara said: "We wanted to create a new type of robot that is soft, cuddly and cute.”
It’s amazing what they are doing with robots these days. The Yotara robot looks like a really good idea. Japan needs all the help it can get to increase its birthrate. If the population falls by thirty per cent, the country will have serious problems. It seems to make sense – people get to see and interact with the robot and that might encourage them to start a family or have more children. Maybe the robot has other purposes, such as in hospitals or schools. Many young Japanese people rarely get to hold a real baby these days.
http://www.newsenglishlessons.com/1003/100323-birthrate.html
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