Well-dying Robot (SF Prototyping)

asai

"The following is news. Haruka Tainaka, a well-known researcher and entrepreneur, passed away last night from a stroke at the age of 43. He was born in Atsugi City, Kanagawa Prefecture. Having been born with a disability in his legs and raised in an orphanage, he became a researcher after graduating from the University of Tokyo with a bachelor's degree in engineering, thinking about better lives for people. Through her research on wellbeing and social implementations such as starting a service development company, she built the foundation for a comfortable and secure life for people, and in 2038, she and her husband, Yuichi Tainaka, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The pallbearers will be my co-researcher and husband, Yuichi."

　Yuichi watched the TV in a daze. After the news ended, a commercial for a virtual gym where people can do muscle training even in the Metaverse began to play as part of the government's health promotion measures. This was another project that Yuichi and Haruka worked on from the service development stage. The two met in the ergonomics laboratory of a university. His first impression of Haruka, sitting in a wheelchair, was that she was a good-natured person. She joined a volunteer club, took care of younger students in the lab, and was always a sounding board for her colleagues and eventually her seniors, always cheerful and without a single weak word. Yuichi was initially suspicious of her altruistic behavior. However, his piercing thoughts gradually changed as he spent time with her in research and daily life.

"She walk in step with people in need."　

This was the belief that Yuichi sensed in Haruka's behavior. While some of it may have been due to her origins, she believed that walking alongside those who had been left behind was more important than anything else and that it was her role to do so. It was clear to Yuichi, who had seen her actions and the smiles on her face when she helped others up close, that her philosophy of action was not hypocritical. Her joy eventually became Yuichi's joy as well, and his interest in her gradually turned into attraction to her as a member of the opposite sex. The two dated after graduation, married, and focused on researching and developing wellbeing for a better life. They implemented a division of labor and society to enhance work-life balance, built a support system to reduce the burden of housework and childcare, used NFT to maximize investment in their children with the time they had left, and managed their health so that they could live independently after 40 years of age. The duo found issues at each stage of life, sought solutions, and even implemented them, and as a result of their efforts, they have gained a great deal of attention as a result of their permeation into society. When Yuichi and Haruka were 41 years old, they were approached about the Nobel Prize as a couple, but Yuichi initially refused. He did not like the fact that his activities with her were lumped together under the heading of peace. Haruka, somewhat anticipating his reaction, urged him to attend the award ceremony, saying it would be a memory that would last a lifetime. He shook his head if she said so. Perhaps because of his nervousness, he wore a pouty face throughout the award ceremony, but she liked his expression and seemed to look back at it again and again. Yuichi felt strangely comfortable being teased by Haruka and thought that their rich life together would continue from now on.

　Then Haruka suddenly died. It was so sudden that not even a will had been left to him. What was the wellbeing that they had promoted together? Did she lead a fulfilling life? Could I have done more for her? And was I able to match her steps? The unresolved questions kept asking himself. Yuichi prioritized the cause with Haruka and started the research in front of him. Believing that it would improve people's lives, he did what he could and continued his research until his retirement.

　After his final lecture as a researcher, he was checking the flood of e-mails from companies inviting him to join their research projects, thanking his fellow researchers for their hard work, and expressing gratitude to the service recipients. In his mailbox, he found an e-mail from a recipient who should not have received it. It was from Haruka. He thought it might be spam or a prank, but he found myself opening it. he couldn't help but smile at the note.

"I don't think I will be around when this mail arrives... I wanted to say this once. I just wanted to say this once!"

What a carefree sentence. It just made Yuichi more happy than any other emotion. And somehow he was convinced that it was from the real Haruka.

"I'm sorry for suddenly coming to you. I don't know what caused my death, but I'm not health enough, so I prepared this e-mail just in case. And..."

Scroll.

"This email is connected to your Apple Watch, and I set it up to be sent when you're in a certain state. So don't be scared, it's not a call from the afterlife or anything."

The mischievous text made Yuichi nostalgic.

"I'm 30 years old as I write this e-mail, and I'm fine, but I'm too embarrassed to talk about my last will and testament, or something like that, even though I'm in such good health. But with a little reminiscence thrown in! I want to tell you, so I will write it down."

He followed each letter carefully with his eyes.

"When we first met, you were very sharp and you called my personality selfish, remember? At first I was miffed, but then I thought that maybe my actions were benefiting you in some way. But then I got angry too, and we had an argument, almost an argument, but it was fun, and it drew people around me, and I made more friends, and my life became richer with you as an external factor. You were a very big part of my life because I was always thinking about what I wanted to do, and you were interested in talking to me."

His fingers move in a conflict between wanting to read the rest of the story quickly and not wanting to finish it.

"I enjoyed our research and discussions. You would jump to conclusions, get passionate, and run off on a tangent, but sometimes when you realized you were wrong, you would be strong and not admit it right away, But what was consistent was that you always thought about who would be happy with the research. Even more than me. Also, because of his passion, he is often lonely and I worry about him a lot. I can tell when you are lonely on the way home after a date. Perhaps you work so hard that you can distract yourself while you work hard, but in your later years you need someone by your side who understands you. My wish is that it would be me, and we could spend the last days together. I'm not sure if that's going to happen, so I'm just being selfish and saying... I want you to die slowly. That's all."

Yuichi was taken aback.

Then she closed the e-mail with an unconnected sentence.

"So, take good care of the baby that's on its way to you, and keep your Apple Watch on!"

He hadn't felt this swept-away feeling in a long time. he felt decades younger.

Two hours after he opened the mail, he received a package from Haruka. When he opened it, he found a retro dog-shaped robot. It was a type rarely seen in digital antique shops these days.

　There was no instruction manual, so he pressed the power button on its abdomen. The robot moved its arms and legs in the air as if to check its body movements. When Yuichi put it down on the floor, it ran around energetically.

Looking at his Apple Watch, it seemed that all kinds of biometric information was being sent to the robot, including heart rate, blood pressure, and walking speed.

"Haruka, what's on your mind ?"

Yuichi murmured. The robot running around scanning the three-dimensional information of the house was a bit of an eyesore, but Haruka had left it for him, so he decided to watch it for a while and got up to prepare his supper.

"Hey, get out of the way!"

He said bluntly to the robot running around the room.

The life of the robot and Yuichi continued for a while after that.

"Hey, I'm going out. You'd better behave yourself."

"Hey, it's time to recharge the batteries."

"Hey, set the alarm for tomorrow at 6:00 a.m."

The robot's responses were displayed on the Apple Watch display.

Yuichi had not given the robot a specific name, but it seemed to recognize "Hey" when he called out to it as its name, so he adopted it.

"HEY, turn on the lights in the study."

"HEY, when's the next hospital appointment?"

"HEY, can I download the latest paper on virtual welfare?"

Connected to the IoT, HEY accessed home appliances and the Internet to support Yuichi's life alone. The old model was fully functional, but Yuichi found it comfortable and enjoyed his life.

　It was not until three years after he welcomed HEY that Yuichi became very ill. HEY found him collapsed in the living room, and after accessing the emergency room, he was able to leave the hospital without any serious aftereffects. However, although he was able to live a normal life on good days, on bad days he was bedridden most of the time. When his body was in pain, acquaintances came to check on him, but he felt a sense of disappearance and loneliness that he had never felt before, because he could no longer do the housework and work that he had been able to do normally.

HEY, who had supported him so precisely up to that point, began to change a little. HEY would turn on the wrong lights, and it no longer recharged its batteries as much as it should, which it had liked so much. Whenever this happened, Yuichi took care of it by turning the lights back on and recharging its batteries. Strangely enough, Yuichi did not feel bothered. When Yuichi was tired, HEY would take care of him, and when HEY was not feeling well, Yuichi would take care of it. It was strange that the waves of Yuichi's and HEY's condition did not overlap in peaks and valleys, but the relationship was comfortable because they complemented each other. Yuichi enjoyed his life, but he also realized that his life was short.

　Two years later, Yuichi was bedridden in a hospital and HEY was lying in a special bed right next to him.

"HEY, how is the weather today?"

In response to Yuichi's faint voice, HEY presented yesterday's weather in audio, but soon realized it and informed him of today's weather. Yuichi smiled gently and patted HEY. It was clear that Yuichi's death was already approaching, but he was not sad or lonely. It was because he had HEY, who had walked with him to the end, that he felt this way.

Yuichi recalled an exchange he had had with Haruka sometime ago.

"Do you know what death with dignity is?"

Haruka suddenly murmured as they were watching "The Notebook".

"What's that? I don't know what it is, but it's something like euthanasia."

"Yes, that's right. I think it's a concept that should be applied not only to terminally ill patients, but also to healthy people."

"Why?"

"People are interested in how much they can use technology to enjoy their lives, aren't they?"

"Yes, because they want to make a good living, and that's how we make our living, too."

"Yes, but we should also think about how we can end our conveniently rich lives in a peaceful way."

"Well, I don't know if that would be a service. What exactly are you going to do about it?"

"We are going to make a robot that will take on the role of a person who is on the downhill slope of life, who can see a person who is on the uphill slope and run alongside them so that they don't become lonely. A robot that will live with you and fade away with you."

"A couple or a family member will be with you."

"Well, I hope so. I hope so."

her lonely smile came to mind.

He stroked HEY's head beside him, wondering if that was him thinking about me.

Yuichi had noticed that HEY's movements were becoming slower and declining in sync with his own physical condition and health.

A robot should always perform the same. He used to think so, but now he feel happy that we are going down the slope of life at the same speed and in the same line of sight.

And even in death, He couldn't stop thinking about Haruka, who thought of a better way to live his life as her husband.

"Thank you."

Yuichi murmured and closed his eyes, not speaking to anyone.

HEY's main power light slowly went out.