These popular creatures represented two different views of robots. Astro Boy was made by a scientist to take the place of his son, who had died. This shows that, unlike the Japanese, he saw robots as objects with only one reason for being-work. These Laws view robots as machines that must obey humans. And the outlook is pessimistic, in the sense that it is assumed that robots could harm people.
Japanese people have a different view.
Robots can be friends with superhuman intelligence and real feelings, like Astro Boy. When robots began appearing on the production line in Japan, they were given names. We sometimes hear reports of people trying to interact with robots, imagining they have human qualities. The entertainment potential of robots has been highlighted recently by stories of people adopting them as pets. These virtual pets probably give you a good idea of the way Japanese people think about robots.