A Robot Takes The Stage In Japanese Play 'Hataraku Watashi'

A new play at Osaka University in Japan has cast its first robot actor!

The work is called Hataraku Watashi (I, worker) and is set in the near future.

Each robot was specially programed to speak their lines and move around the stage with human actors. The play is one of Japan's first robot-human theater productions.

The play was written by Oriza Hirata, who says that the work is meant to raise questions about the relationship between humanity and technology.

Hataraku Watashi centers around a young couple who own two housekeeping robots. One of the robots loses its motivation to work. The robot complains that it has been forced into these dull jobs and instead enters into a discussion with the humans about its role in their lives.

The play is only 20 minutes long but it is hoped to become a full-length production by 2010.

The Wakamaru robot is made by Mitsubushi but the software to train it for the stage was developed at the University.