What the Night Elevator Asks
■ Daytime autonomy was quietly held up by passing human hands Late at night, Hakobukun stops at the third-floor elevator and cannot go on. By day, someone passing by always pressed the button. Nothing was broken. Part of what looked like autonomy came from the people around it.
■ A missing ability can be supplied by the building instead Makihara does not give the robot an arm. He links Hakobukun to the elevator wirelessly, so the car comes to meet it. Talking to the equipment directly is faster than imitating a human gesture.
■ Conclusion: Night operation depends on the robot's connection to facilities Whether a robot can work through an empty night depends less on its own capability than on its link to elevators and automatic doors. The smoother the day runs, the harder it is to see whose hands fill the gaps. At night, the building decides what a robot can do.
