Robotic avatar of Japan's digital minister unveiled
A mechanical avatar of Japan's Minister of Digital Reform, Taro Kono, was revealed by a group of robotics researchers on last Friday.
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- Published Date: 10:15 | 25 October 2022
- Modified Date: 10:18 | 25 October 2022
It is the first example in the world of a robot doppelganger of a serving government minister.
The group that is conducting the research will be proceeding with remote control demonstration tests with the robot minister.
The minister himself also took the chance to control robo-Kono at the press event and seemed pleased with the results.
"I can send my avatar to various places and talk without having to go there myself," he said.
Before seeing the robot, Kono had said that "If it looks and seems human, I'll feel closer to it."
When he actually came face-to-face with it, he quipped, "With the Diet's permission, I'd gladly have it sit in for me at the Budget Committee."
He also shared the photos he took with the robot in his Twitter account.
The Kono avatar is part of a research and development project directed by the Cabinet Office. The testing period began in 2020 and is set to run until 2025.
The Kono robot has apparently been under development since 2020, when the flesh-and-blood version was Japan's minister for regulatory reform.
The goal of using the avatar is for activities such as promoting the My Number government ID system.