A second would be to create new manufacturing opportunities for small businesses, since robotics and intelligent machines might well allow smaller businesses to compete effectively with larger ones. The third goal would be to encourage a robust industry of high-tech small businesses in software design and specialized equipment development for robotics and intelligent machines. Paying Careful Attention to Social and Cultural Issues As important as the first five points that I have discussed are, they will not be sufficient to ensure U.S. leadership in the future of robotics and intelligent machines. We must also recognize, and respond to, the fact that the United States is a very different cultural and social setting for a robotics and intelligent machines industry, compared to our major technological competitor, Japan. It is hard for Americans to appreciate sufficiently the cultural enthusiasm that exists for robots in Japan.
Robots are uniformly heroes when they appear in popular Japanese cartoons and films.
Robotics expositions in Japan have drawn upwards of a quarter of a million attendees, with nearly a quarter of these being children, who are dragging their parents to see the robots. By contrast, in the United States, our society has a more ambiguous view of robots. Robots often appear in our films as menacing figures, or even as villains. Such cultural differences in how a technology is viewed can affect the development of a national industry related to that technology. For example, Germany has yet to develop a world-class biotechnology industry, despite its prowess in related industries such as specialty chemicals and process engineering.