Dancing cyborgs: Japanese researchers develop robot arms to 'unlock creativity'
Reuters
June 27, 20238:58 AM CDTUpdated 4 days ago

TOKYO, June 27 (Reuters) - What would society look like if cyborg body parts were freely available for use like roadside rental bicycles? Masahiko Inami's team at the University of Tokyo have sought to find out by creating wearable robotic arms.

Inami's team is developing a series of technologies rooted in the idea of "jizai", an Japanese term that he says roughly denotes autonomy and the freedom to do as one pleases.

The aim is to foster something like the relationship between musician and instrument, "lying somewhere between a human and a tool, like how a musical instrument can become as if a part of your body."

Inami says he was inspired by traditional Japanese puppetry and a quasi-horror short story by novelist Yasunari Kawabata about a man who borrows a young woman's arm and proceeds to spend the night with it.