Why the robot uprising will give us Robot Pets, not Robot Masters

Japan has a very different approach to robotics. Japan leads the world in industrial robots, but there is also a growing movement that is reinventing the way we share our world with machines. Kaname Hayashi was one of the creators of Softbank's Pepper robot. His latest startup, GrooveX, has raised over $100 million to develop the Lovot; a companion robot, or perhaps more accurately, a robot pet unlike any other. We talk about the Lovot itself, of course, but we also cover GrooveX's unique business model and talk about the very different ways that people of different sexes, ages, and nationalities interact with the Lovot. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why the Lovot is as much a pet as a dog or cat Data that proves how our interaction with robots is changing Why the Lovot's form factor is so important Why GrooveX invested so much in getting the Lovot's eyes right How the Lovot makes friends The Lovot's business model. Will this scale? The biggest surprise from the Lovot Cafe Why Western men don't love the Lovot Japan's anxiety trap and how to fix it Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about the GrooveX Follow Kaname on Twitter @HayashiKaname Friend him on Facebook See the Lovot in action The Lovot on Instagram - this is way too cute The Evocative Machines Project Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. I've never really fully embraced the Japanese concept of cute or kawaii. I mean, it's fine and all, all the mascots and characters are nice but it gets a bit odd sometimes.  For example, my bankbook is covered with pictures of Mickey Mouse and Goofy which are images Western financial institutions would probably not want to be associated with their product but hey, it works in Japan but there's actually something deeply fascinating and important underlying the idea of kawaii.  Today, we sit down with Kaname Hayashi who was formerly part of SoftBank’s Pepper Project and then went out on his own to start Groove X and create the Lovot. Now, the Lovot is a companion robot or a pet robot and we talk about the robot itself, of course and please check out the links on the site for pictures and videos. It's very cute and you really have to see the Lovot in action to appreciate it but more important than the robot itself is how people are interacting with it.  Now, we've talked about social robots on disrupting Japan before but people are interacting with the Lovot differently and far more socially than anything that's come before it. It's the first robot I've seen that not only could be fully accepted as a pet but is being fully accepted as a pet. Kaname and I also dive into the business model. Groove X has raised a lot of investment and as you'll hear during the interview, this is a startup that could go either way, it could fizzle out into nothing or it could change global society. In fact, in post-production, when I was editing down the interview, I kept thinking of more and deeper questions I wanted to ask Kaname, so we'll have to get him back on the show in the future but for now, you're about to hear a story about the difference in the way children and adults and Westerners interact with robots, the intersection of toxic masculinity and robotics and why science fiction usually gets human-robot interaction all wrong but Kaname tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview.  Interview Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Kaname Hayashi of Groove X, the maker of Lovot, so thanks for sitting down with me today.  Kaname: Thank you very much.  Tim: So, Lovot is a cute and I mean really, really cute companion robot but you can probably describe it much better than I can. So, what is Lovot? Kaname: Yeah, good question. Lovot takes a role as a pet.