n024  0909  08 Mar 85
BC-JAPAN-FUTURE
By SUSAN CHIRA
c.1985 N.Y. Times News Service
    TSUKUBA, Japan - There are talking robots, walking robots, robots
that draw pictures, robots that play Bach on the organ, and singing
stuffed animal robots. There are computer-designed 3-D movies
featuring songs with refrains like ''Machines and humans can be
friends.'' There are even what have been dubbed ''ladies of the
future'' - phalanxes of hostesses dressed in high-tech metallic
shades of silver and gold.
    Here, in this land of shrines, the newest shrine is a paean to
science and technology. Tsukuba Expo '85, which opens later this
month 32 miles outside Tokyo, offers pavilion after pavilion
extolling the wonders of the next century. But while its sponsors
have billed it as a show displaying developments in science and
technology never seen before, it appears to be a vision with a large
dose of Disneyland, at times a shrine more to showmanship than to
science.
    Serious intentions do lurk behind the show business touches. The
Japanese hope that this exposition will enhance Japan's reputation as
a technological innovator, not just a country that adopts existing
technology and packages and markets it well.
    Another aim is to publicize Tsukuba, a town that Japan has been
trying to develop for more than two decades. It is hoped that the
exposition will bring not only attention to the effort, but also
excitement and further development to a city that pales in comparison
with Tokyo.
    On the publicity front, the festival's sponsors seem to be
succeeding, at least so far. The exposition, which will open to the
public on March 17 and run through Sept. 16, has seldom been out of
the news here. The budget for the fair is more than $2 billion, and
individual companies have spent large sums. A huge billboard in the
Ginza, Tokyo's stylish shopping district, has for two years been
counting down the days until the opening.
    But scientifically, Tsukuba falls short, according to academics and
scientific analysts. Although there is much to marvel at, there is
little that is thought to be ground-breaking.
    ''For all the talk about 21st-century technology, I must admit to
being hard pressed to find it,'' said John Hartley, who edits a
technology assessment newsletter for Jardine Fleming Securities Ltd.
    And Junichi Nishizawa, a Tohoku University professor known for his
advances in optical fiber technology, said: ''It is not a show of the
most advanced technology. Many machines shown there would be a little
bit more advanced than consumer electronics goods now sold. But we
are thinking a bit further ahead.''
    The exhibits offer scant discussion of work on technological
frontiers, such as Japan's research in developing supercomputers or
so-called fifth-generation computers, those that would have
elementary reasoning abilities and be far easier to use than today's
models. Several analysts said that fears of industrial espionage
might have curbed such plans.
    Many of the pavilion organizers have chosen folksy presentations,
often geared to children. At the Hitachi pavilion, an oversize dog
robot, accompanied by two kittens wearing pink and blue bows, sings
technology's praises.
    Hitachi also features an engaging animated film profiling the family
of the future. It whisks about in self-powered cars and is served by
a happy robot who vacuums, washes windows and cooks dinner.
    The result can be a somewhat starry-eyed view of technological
advances. The Fujitsu exhibit proclaims, ''What mankind can dream,
technology can achieve.''
    -
    Many exhibits try to demystify technology, showing its practical
benefits, which include the possible uses in the home. The Midori-kan
pavilion contains an exhibit on biotechnology, explaining how
advances can stimulate food production and help fight disease.
    The NEC and Fujitsu pavilions demonstrate automatic translation
systems. At the Matsushita pavilion, a robot sketches a lifelike
portrait of visitors.
    Expo visitors can ride on the High Speed Surface Transport, a train
that floats slightly above the track, powered by an electromagnetic
system. And the entire fair is linked by an optical fiber cable
network, a sector in which Japanese companies have been strong.
    One of Tsukuba's main attractions is on display at the Japanese
government pavilion. It is a multijointed robot shaped like a man
that can read musical scores, ranging from Bach to the Beatles, and
play them on an electric organ.
    A team of researchers at Waseda University and Sumitomo Electric
Industries spent several years, and more than $1 million, tb produce
the robot. ''We developed this as a breakthrough toward a personal
robot, which should be able to do more than current industrial
robots,'' said Ichiro Kato, a Waseda professor who headed the
research.
    What makes the robot interesting is the precise control that allows
organ playing. The technology that enables such precision could
eventually be used to develop robots to replace people in hazardous
industrial tasks.
    
    
    
nyt-03-08-85 1202est
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