Ito Mancio's android at the Italy Pavilion, unveiled during the opening ceremony of Italy's National Week at Expo 2025 Osaka, has inspired a debate on technology, ethics and philosophy during the event 'Science Talk: Ito Mancho Robot'.
    The android, which has become part of the visitors' experience, is the outcome of a collaboration between the Italy Pavilion and the thematic pavilion 'Future of Life' curated by professor and producer Hiroshi Ishiguro.
    The debate has led to a reflection on present times and the future, on the relationship between humans, robots and the divine and on the ethic vision of different cultures - in particular Italian, Asian and Japanese culture - through the voice of important representatives of communities of the sciences and philosophy.
    In addition to Ishiguro, a roboticist and director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at the University of Osaka, who is known for creating his humanoid version (Geminoid), speakers included Rev.

Soeda Ryusho, Chief Priest of Rengejoin on Mount Koya and former dean of the University of Koyasan, and Professor Giorgio Metta, director of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT).
    The meeting was moderated by Rossella Menegazzo, who is in charge of culture at the Italy Pavilion.
    "The pavilion's most important role is wondering, for example, how these robots and the technology of artificial intelligence will be used once they will be accessible to everybody", stressed Professor Ishiguro.
    "The pavilion has been conceived to make you think about such things", he noted.
    "So far, we have created 'Ihai' (a memorial for the dead) for the afterlife, this is how we remember the dead - I think in the future we could see a type of android previously described by Professor Ishiguro through whom we could mourn the dead", stressed Soeda Ryusho.
    The debate was introduced by the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, Mario Vattani, who said that "our pavilion and Ishiguro's have become friends at this point because they are connected by this experiment which we have successfully carried out and which has given us the inspiration to reach this day today".
    "We have learned a lot from this experience, it has been truly enriching to have had a platform, a tool of promotion, a meeting point here in Osaka", he noted.
    "Today I found an incredible combination - on the one hand the reason why we build such machines and we make humanoid robots", said the IIT's director.
    On the other, he went on to say, such robots could become "of common use because these are technologies which we are clearly developing" for a utilitarian reason, because they could "help us in our jobs", although they could also become in the future "the memory of our past" and "what we leave behind us", explained Professor Metta.
    The event ended with speeches by Fabrizio Grillo, Public affairs & International relations director at Bracco, the Italy Pavilion's Gold Sponsor at Expo 2025 Osaka, and Morishige Uda, director of the Nara National Museum.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA