The trade and industry ministry stepped in to help last year, providing ?4.3bn in subsidies to develop next generation robots, some of which, such as Ligurio, a security robot that can recognise a stranger 50m away, can be seen at the world exposition near Nagoya in central Japan.
Osaka spent ?150 million on robot development in 2004, two-thirds of which went on opening a laboratory in central Osaka at the end of last year. Now occupying a floor high above the busy Umeda district, the lab will form a major part of a 24-hectare plot of land north of Osaka's main railway station that will be developed over the next few years.
Local officials hope that Robo City will be a place where robot developers worldwide can take their ideas, however crazy, knowing that they will be given a fair hearing and, perhaps, see their brainstorms turned into hardware. "In a few years, Osaka will be the Silicon Valley of the robot industry," Ishiguro said.
But before that can happen, Osaka's robot industry says it needs more help in the face of increasing competition from other parts of Japan, South Korea, the US and Europe.
Only about 150 of the 20,000 or so small and medium-sized firms in Kansai are involved in robot development, and cooperation is being hindered by a lack of uniform standards for parts and software. And for an industry whose survival depends on fresh ideas, some old attitudes are proving hard to ditch.
Although a fully domesticated robot is about 40 years away, Ishiguro said: "It will be only several years before you can have a system that can call you on your mobile and ask you what time you'll be home, what you want for dinner, whether you want a bath. It'll be just like having a wife."
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