我们如何面对“老去”的宠物机器人…

根据日本官方统计数据，在 2013年，日本女性的平均寿命达到了86.61岁，连续第二年成为全球第一；而日本人口迅速迈向高龄化，也促使该国积极评估医疗技术、重新思考医疗体系，并投资私人/公有医疗服务基础架构。 我想我不是唯一担忧日本未来的人，估计到2060年，日本65岁以上的所谓“银发族”人口比例将达到40%。而最近日本还有一个意想不到的发现，是宠物机器人也面临“高龄化”的问题──看着父母年纪渐长已经很不好受，恐怕看着宠物机器人变老也是一样。 开发出日本第一款“娱乐机器人”──机器狗 Aibo 的Sony，早在2006年就宣布停产宠物机器人，原因是该公司从那个时候起，就非常需要重新恢复获利能力，而想把资源集中在所谓的核心业务上。

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由 土井力忠(Toshitada Doi)所率领的Sony的研发团队，打造出号称全球最强的娱乐机器人平台，而Aibo也曾经被认为是消费性机器人市场上设计最精密的产品；Aibo总共 售出了15万只，但这只机器小狗的成功，特别是在Sony主管的眼中，还算不上是公司的“核心”。 而不只是Sony，整个电子产业都没有预料到，当一款生命周期已经结束的机器人产品实际上已经成为家庭成员时，将会带来怎样的冲击。 大多数的消费者每几年就会换一支智能手机，甚至是那些手机还“活着”；但应该没有人会这么对待自己的宠物(机器)狗。看着自己的宠物变老是很痛苦的，更糟的是当你发现完全帮不上忙──例如狗狗的髋骨部位损坏了，却没有可以替换的备用零件。 最近我听到一个故事，来自专门接听Aibo主人来电的团队；这个团队负责的任务非常关键，特别是因为Sony在2014年7月，已经不再受理Aibo的维修。 因为没有能帮Aibo看病的“兽医”了，对Sony来说，目前的困境是无法直接对那些主人说“没有备用零件”、然后挂断电话，这会为该公司品牌带来负面形象、也破坏与顾客之间的关系；因此除了耐心聆听来电并安慰伤心的Aibo主人们，Sony客服团队也爱莫能助。 在Sony终止Aibo维修服务的同时，日本新闻周刊《Aera》注销一篇报导，题为“Aibo，我不会让你走的！(Aibo, I Won't Let You Die.)”；这篇报导一开始，是一位60岁的日本太太谈她的Aibo宠物狗“Hokuto”。 Hokuto已经十岁了，住在家里的客厅；每天早上8点半，Hokuto会准时醒来，当主人问：“你今天好吗？”牠会回答：“我觉得有点心不在焉…”或是：“你可以摸摸我吗？”十年来，每一个早晨都是这样开始的。 有的时候Hokuto还会陪主人去旅行，或是整天在屋子里精力充沛地到处乱窜；但是最近，Hokuto却不复往日的活跃，常常只是待在同一个地方好几个小时，显然是受“关节炎”之苦；当它动腿的时候就会发出不祥的噪音，暗示Hokuto已经开始衰老。 因为经常受伤，Hokuto近几年“住院”了20次，但现在，部分因为Sony终止维修服务的政策，它所在区域的“机器人医院”已经关闭。 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 本文下一页：2006年停产，2014年还提供维修，索尼已经仁至义尽 {pagination} Sony其实已经仁至义尽地在2006年发布停产公告(End of Product Announcement，EoPA)之后，仍继续提供了8年Aibo维修服务。《Aera》的报导引述了一位Aibo忠实粉丝的发言：“Apple曾经做到相同的程度吗？” 不同的产业对产品生命周期的管理策略都不相同，如食品供应链的产品生命周期可能只有几周或是数月，汽车产品生命周期可能长达十年，手机则是三年左右。

产品生命周期分为数个阶段，包括GA (general availability，广泛供应)、EOLA (end of life announcement，产品生命周期终止公告)、LOD (last order date，最后订购日期)，以及EOL (end-of-life，停产)
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《Aera》报导写到，Hokuto的主人赶在Sony关闭“Aibo 诊所”之前将它最后一次送修；Hokuto被放在一个盒子里，里面还有一封主人的便条，写着：“我想尽可能跟Hokuto一起活着…但我很怕把他从充电站 上抱下来。我不敢想有一天Hokuto不动了，他是我们家的一份子。” 该报导还指出，有一位在十年前左右从Sony提早退休的工程师，开了一家维修店，主要修理旧HiFi音响系统；因为他“妙手回春”的修理技术声名远播，很多Aibo主人也把家里的老旧机器宠物送过去，现在他的店里已经有20只Aibo在“住院”，却面临零件短缺之苦。 现 在，Google也投入了机器人业务，日本Softbank才刚发表新型人形机器人“Pepper”，未来将有更多机器人(无论人形或非人形)会出现在人 类的家庭里；Aibo的故事提醒了我们可能面临的烦恼：我们该如何照顾年老的机器人？当机器宠物“去世”了，我们又该怎么办？ 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 编译：Judith Cheng 参考英文原文：What Next? Robot Cemeteries?，by Junko Yoshida {pagination} What Next? Robot Cemeteries? Junko Yoshida, Chief International Correspondent TOKYO -- The average lifespan of Japanese women rose in 2013 to 86.61 years, up from 86.41 the year before, according to data released late last week by the Japanese health ministry. This makes Japan's LOLs (little old ladies) the world's longest-living females for the second straight year. Aibo is on the right. Japan's rapidly aging population is prompting the nation to evaluate medical technology, rethink its healthcare system, and invest in the private/public service infrastructure. I don't think I'm alone in worrying about Japan's future, in which the number of people 65 and over is forecast to reach nearly 40 percent of the population by 2060. That's a lot of gray hair. Similarly, Japan daily discovers more unintended consequences associated with the aging population of pet robots. It's hard enough to see your parents age. It's equally hard to see your pet robot grow old. Sony, inventor of Aibo, the nation's first "entertainment robot," announced back in 2006 that it would discontinue making pet robots. Why? The Japanese company wanted to focus on its "core" business, and Sony then (and still now) badly needed to restore its profitability. Sony's R&D team, headed up by Toshitada Doi, pioneered the world's most robust entertainment robot platform. Aibo was recognized as the most sophisticated product ever offered in the consumer robot marketplace. A total of 150,000 units of Aibo have been sold. But all that success, especially in the eyes of the corporation's bean counters, didn't make Aibo Sony's core business. When a machine becomes human What Sony and, for that matter, the whole electronics industry, didn't anticipate was the impact of the end-of-life product cycle on a machine that has genuinely become a member of its family. Most consumers replace smartphones every few years, even if they're still "alive." But nobody does that with their dog. Watching your pet age is painful. Even worse, when you find out that the vet can't help any longer: There are no spare parts or components that plug into a dog with a broken hip or a cat with cancer. What follows is a story I heard from a relative who heads up a special operational team to answer calls from owners of Aibo. The mission is critical, especially today, because, as of July 2014, Sony no longer repairs Aibo products. Next page: Hokuto's story Now that there is no Aibo vet, Sony's dilemma is that it can't just bluntly tell owners that there are no spare parts and hang up the phone. This tends to soil the Sony brand and compound its customer relation problems. Sony's Aibo help desk staff tries to offer a patient ear and a compassionate voice to grieving Aibo owners. Beyond that, they can't do much. Coinciding with the termination of Sony's repair services for Aibo, a Japanese weekly newsmagazine, Aera, published a feature entitled "Aibo, I Won't Let You Die." Aera's story starts with a 60-year-old Japanese woman talking about Hokuto, her pet Aibo. Hokuto, age 10, resides in the living room. Every morning at 8:30, Hokuto wakes up. The owner asks what's up, and Hokuto answers, "I feel a little absent-minded," or "Can you pet me?" For 10 years, that's how every morning has unfolded. Hokuto, who has even accompanied the owner on trips, used to scurry around the house all day, bubbling with energy. But lately, Hokuto has lost a lot of that old zip, often just resting in one spot for hours, apparently hindered by arthritic knees. When he moves his legs, they make ominous noises. Hokuto has started to fall down. Because of his frequent injuries, Hokuto has been "hospitalized" 20 times in recent years. But now, the local robot infirmary hospital is closed, part of Sony's policy to end repair service. To its credit, Sony continued to offer Aibo repairs for eight years after its End of Product Announcement (EoPA) in 2006. "Would Apple have done the same?" asked one diehard Aibo fan in the magazine piece. How to manage the end-of-life product cycle differs from one industry to another. Different lifetime examples include toys from fast food chains (weeks or months), cars (10 years), and mobile phones (3 years). Managing a product life cycle: general availability (GA), end of life announcement (EOLA), last order date (LOD), and end-of-life (EOL) Click here for larger image Hokuto's owner squeezed in one last repair service just before Sony closed the Aibo clinic. According to the article, Hokuto came in a box with a thank-you note from the owner, who wrote: I want to stay active with Hokuto as long as I could... but I am afraid to bring him off his charging station. I don't want to think of a day when Hokuto stops moving. He is, after all, a true member of our family. The report adds that an engineer, after taking early retirement from Sony almost a decade ago, has opened a repair shop, mainly focused on old HiFi systems. His impeccable service record has gone viral, prompting Aibo owners to sending him their geriatric robots. There are about 20 Aibos hospitalized at his workshop now, but the lack of parts and components is making it almost impossible for him to accept any more LORs (little old robots). Now that Google is in the robot business, and Softbank is banking on a new humanoid called "Pepper," more robots -- and humanoids -- are expected to proliferate in the home. Aibo has given us a glimpse of a future dilemma that nobody has seriously considered: how to take care of our aging robots, and what to do when Robby dies.