directed by Rintaro. production: Madhouse

directed by Shinji Aramaki. production: Digital Frontier, Geneon Entertainment, TYO Animations

directed by Kanta Kamei. production: Studio 3Hz, Orange

Japan is considered to be the most highly robotized society in the world, which at the industrial level at least is certainly true. There are presently some 250,000 industrial robots employed in Japan, which is more than in any other country, and this number is expected to double in less than five years, and quadruple in ten. Furthermore, according to a claim that has been around at least since the early 1960s, there is a 'love story' between Japan and robots (Koestler 1960). The Japanese are said to love robots, while Westerners tend to fear or at least to be wary of them, and many studies show that social acceptance of robots is higher in Japan than in Europe (Hornyak 2006). Japanese newspapers are always eager to report that someone invented a robot for making sushi or a robotic bed for elderly patients that transforms into a wheelchair. Robots in everyday life are seen as useful helpers rather than potentially dangerous rivals
Dumouchel, Paul. Technical Individuals and Systems. NatureCulture 2017

Hiroshi Ishi­guro builds androids. Beautiful, realistic, uncannily convincing human replicas. Academically, he is using them to understand the mechanics of person-to-person interaction. But his true quest is to untangle the ineffable nature of connection itself
Mar, Alex. Love in the time of robots. Wired. 2017

Just as they will change healthcare, manufacturing, and the military, robots have the potential to produce big changes in policing. We can expect that at least some robots used by the police in the future will be artificially intelligent machines capable of using legitimate coercive force against human beings. Police robots may decrease dangers to police officers by removing them from potentially volatile situations. Those suspected of crimes may also risk less injury if robots can assist the police in conducting safer detentions, arrests, and searches. At the same time, however, the use of robots introduces new questions about how the law and democratic norms should guide policing decisions—questions which have yet to be addressed in any systematic way. How we design, regulate, or even prohibit some uses of police robots requires a regulatory agenda now to address foreseeable problems of the future
Joh, Elizabeth E. Policing police robots. UCLA L. Rev. Discourse 64 (2016): 516

As an apparent coup d'etat ripples through Saudi Arabia, the rising ruling faction is trying to keep things upbeat by sending bullish signals to the world's mega-rich. Exhibit A is Neom, part of the kingdom's Vision 2030 initiative, a proposed utopian city whose modest slogan is "the world's most ambitious project." Neom imagines itself a swinging, sort-of-liberal international trade center, built from scratch, at a cost of five hundred billion dollars, on the shores of the Red Sea. According to its official Web site, Neom will be an "aspirational society that heralds the future of human civilization," which means, of course, that it will be operated and inhabited by armies of artificially intelligent bots. As part of the rollout for Neom, the Saudis have just granted official state citizenship—a first for planet Earth—to one such machine, named Sophia Robot
Avi Steinberg. Can a Robot Join the Faith? the new yorker. 2017

Saudi Arabia became the first country to grant citizenship to a robot. But it isn't the only Middle East country making strides in AI.
Suparna Dutt D'Cunha. Oil-Rich Middle East Edging Into AI To Future-Proof Its Economy. forbes, 2018

WHEN GIULIO DI Sturco takes a portrait, he tries to capture the essence of his subject—what some might call their soul. But that was impossible with his latest subject, Sophia: She doesn't have one
LAURA MALLONEE. PHOTOGRAPHING A ROBOT ISN'T JUST POINT AND SHOOT. wired, 2018

As the use of autonomous machines increases in society, so too has the chance of robot-related fatalities
Ian Tucker. Death by robot: the new mechanised danger in our changing world. the guardian, 2018

This bot features iRobot's best vacuuming tech, but at less than half the price
ADRIENNE SO. REVIEW: IROBOT ROOMBA 690. Wired, 2018

TOKYO — Paro the furry seal cries softly while an elderly woman pets it. Pepper, a humanoid, waves while leading a group of senior citizens in exercises. The upright Tree guides a disabled man taking shaky steps, saying in a gentle feminine voice, "right, left, well done!"
reuters. Aging Japan: Robots May Have Role in Future of Elder Care. voanews, 2018

The robots are coming—but they aren't here just yet. There are only three robots per 10,000 employees in India, according to the 2017 World Robot Statistics (pdf) reportissued by non-profit International Federation of Robotics (IFR) on Feb. 07. By comparison, the average robot density in the world was 74 in 2016
Ananya Bhattacharya. What robots? India's still far from being an automation nation. quartz india, 2018

Tomorrow's support-bots will help old folks stay mentally and socially engaged
Andrew Tarantola. Robot caregivers are saving the elderly from lives of loneliness. engadget, 2017

The Henn na – or Weird Hotel – has opened in Japan where guests check in with robots which also deliver their luggage to rooms
Associated Press. Japan's robot hotel: a dinosaur at reception, a machine for room service. the guardian, 2015

Hansen, James, Makiko Sato, Paul Hearty, Reto Ruedy, Maxwell Kelley, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Gary Russell et al. "Ice melt, sea level rise and superstorms: evidence from paleoclimate data, climate modeling, and modern observations that 2°C global warming could be dangerous." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 16, no. 6 (2016): 3761-3812.