"And I owe it all to the failure of The Homer."
Posted on 05/15/2005 1:50:07 AM PDT by nickcarraway
TOKYO -- The cryptic cries, grins and gurgles of babies that leave parents dumbfounded could soon be deciphered, if the wonders of modern technology are to be trusted.
Three years after a toymaker scored a smash hit with the "Bowlingual" gadget to interpret the warp and woof of a dog's life, Japanese researchers may have an even bigger sensation - a translator for baby babbling.
"We aim to develop a device to read babies' feelings," says Kazuyuki Shinohara, a neurobiology professor at the state-run Nagasaki University who leads the research team.
The gadget could be a godsend in a country where a growing number of young people find child-rearing too burdensome, although some experts are cautious about an almost science-fiction world where babies are understood with machines before they learn to talk.
Shinohara's group has been conducting experiments involving mothers and their babies by monitoring the infants' cries, facial expressions and body temperature changes in a project backed by the government-subsidized Japan Science and Technology Agency.
"We are trying to read babies' faces numerically such as the distance between eyebrows and the nose tip," Shinohara says.
As for other clues on what babies mean to say, researchers are also analyzing whether high or low frequencies in the sound of the cries show that they want specific things.
The team is also monitoring the temperatures of babies' bodies, mostly the face, through thermography. Shinohara says that changes in temperature normally indicate particular desires.
The professor, who declined to elaborate on his conclusions or the shape of the gadget pending patenting, aims to launch the device by mid-2006.
"The technology will be completed by around summer this year," he says. "Commercialization will likely come in spring or summer of next year as it is expected to take some time to make the device smaller."
The product would be for use at both medical institutions and in homes. The professor says he wants to make the price for a home-use version below 10,000 yen ($95).
As Japanese families are becoming smaller, many parents lack know-how in taking care of babies.
"We have seen a lot of mothers who can hardly hug their babies," Shinohara says. "With their husbands returning home late and local communities losing close bonds among residents, these mothers have to struggle with child-rearing alone even if it is a totally new experience for them," he says.
Some experts are skeptical whether technology can fill the gap.
"You may lose confidence as a parent if your baby cries a lot. But your child-rearing ability increases gradually by trial and error," says Yuko Iguchi, clinical psychologist at National Children's Castle in Tokyo, which offers children opportunities for athletic, artistic and other activities.
"Such ability grows only if you mobilize all of your five senses. It would set off an alarm bell in me if parents understand their baby only through machines," she says.
Japan has one of the world's lowest birth rates, with many people putting off marriage indefinitely fearing that family life would harm their careers and lifestyles.
Shinohara claims that his device could make bringing up children more enjoyable for parents.
"It is cruel just to tell them 'You should naturally know what your baby wants'," he says.
"There is no use scolding the parents. We want them to have fun in raising babies by taking advantage of technology," he says.
The professor claims that the device may also help detect abnormalities such as autism or show that children are being neglected if the child remains mute at the sight of an event that would normally cause a clear facial expression.
Not all parents are convinced that the gadget will work.
Rumiko Kobayashi, a 31-year-old mother of an 18-month-old boy and three-month-old girl, says that babies want different things from different people and what held true for mothers might not be the case for fathers.
"It may be good to give it to struggling parents as a joke gift but I would not buy it," she says.
But Mio Okada, a 21-year-old student, says "it's good" to develop a translator.
"I have taken care of babies of relatives but sometimes got confused about what they wanted. When they cried violently, I asked them 'What? Can you be a bit clearer about what you want - do you want to change diapers or have milk'?" she says.
In a potential sign of the market for the baby translator, Japanese toymaker Takara Co. Ltd. has sold 300,000 Bowlingual dog translators in Japan since its launch in September 2002, as well as 100,000 in North America and 50,000 in South Korea.
"And I owe it all to the failure of The Homer."
'What? Can you be a bit clearer about what you want - do you want to change diapers or have milk'?" she says.
Also I found this paragraph really sickening:
"..godsend in a country where a growing number of young people find child-rearing too burdensome"
--I am not going to find having a baby "burdensome". I'll have a baby because i want one and to love him/her. If they find a baby burdensome, don't have one, DUH.
The only thing i find "burdensome" is taxes, liberals, whiners, and high maintenance/bitc*y females. LMAO :P :P
If they find a baby burdensome, don't have one, DUH.
The eternal search for short cuts goes on.
They are right that people should quit telling women that they ought to be hard-wired to 'mother' from the moment the baby is conceived; it's a job you have to learn like any other, and for most women it's hard work.
This machine reminds me how much I hate the new Leapfrog 'reading' toy that convinces children who can point to a word and have a machine tell them what it is, that they are reading. When they see the word in a book that remains silent, they have no idea what it is.
Say you get lost in Bedford-Stuyvesant, NY. You need directions, but you are unable to communicate with the locals. Whala! A press of the button and you are getting clear and concise directions out of the hell hole. ;)
Too late. We've had such a device for thousands of years...it's called "Mommy."
-"The gadget could be a godsend in a country where a growing number of young people find child-rearing too burdensome"-
Cripes and boo-hoo! Take even MORE responsibility away from parents - that way the edoocashun indoctrination system will have a much easier time molding your offspring. Run. Run now.
Right and the reason a lot of young mothers can't figure out what is wrong with their baby is the doctors. The doctors are so afraid that the parents will do something wrong that they tell everyone a bunch of hooey - especially about feeding.They never tell them to trust their instincts. That WILL come in time. It also helps to listen to your mother or grandmother when they tell you something. They raised them, didn't they?! Our son (born in 1973) was not satisfied at all on milk. He started on cereal at 2 weeks and was eating a full meal at a month. He never had any problems with any of it or later in life with any type of allergies. Our daughter says she will feed her kids what she wants and if the food show signs of disagreeing with them, then by cracky, she won't give THAT particular food to them. Smart gal, I'd say.
Our granddaughter, who is starting to talk, says "putteguh" Krisi just thought it was a babble, but said she does it when she eats something. I reminded her that she tells Cassie "pretty good!" when she gives her something to eat.
The prototype was based on Lt. Newkirk's Gonkulator. (obscure Horgan's Heros reference which I doubt anyone remembers.)
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