Japanese develop 'female' android
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4714135.stm
By David Whitehouse
Science editor, BBC News website
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image..._getty_203.jpg
Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet devised - a "female" android called Repliee Q1.
She has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner.
She can flutter her eyelids and move her hands like a human. She even appears to breathe.
Professor Hiroshi Ishiguru of Osaka University says one day robots could fool us into believing they are human.
Repliee Q1 is not like any robot you will have seen before, at least outside of science-fiction movies.
She is designed to look human and although she can only sit at present, she has 31 actuators in her upper body, powered by a nearby air compressor, programmed to allow her to move like a human.
"I have developed many robots before," Repliee Q1's designer, Professor Ishiguru, told the BBC News website, "but I soon realised the importance of its appearance. A human-like appearance gives a robot a strong feeling of presence."
Designed to look human
Before Repliee Q1, Professor Ishiguru developed Repliee R1 which had the appearance of a five-year-old Japanese girl.
Its head could move in nine directions and it could gesture with its arm. Four high-sensitivity tactile sensors were placed under the skin of its left arm that made the android react differently to differing pressures.
The follow-up has the appearance of a Japanese woman. To program her motion, a computer analysed the motions of a human and used them as a template for the way Repliee Q1 moves.
She can be designed to follow the movement of a human wearing motion sensors or to act independently.
"Repliee Q1 can interact with people. It can respond to people touching it. It's very satisfying, although we obviously have a long way to go yet."
Professor Ishiguru believes that it may prove possible to build an android that could pass for a human, if only for a brief period.
"An android could get away with it for a short time, 5-10 seconds. However, if we carefully select the situation, we could extend that, to perhaps 10 minutes," he said.
"More importantly, we have found that people forget she is an android while interacting with her. Consciously, it is easy to see that she is an android, but unconsciously, we react to the android as if she were a woman."
Re: Japanese develop 'female' android
Look who's finally got a prom date!
Re: Japanese develop 'female' android
Quote:
Originally Posted by savafan
"Repliee Q1 can interact with people. It can respond to people touching it. It's very satisfying
:eek: :evil:
Re: Japanese develop 'female' android
Hey maybe Puffy can trade the blow-up doll for one of these!!
Re: Japanese develop 'female' android
Re: Japanese develop 'female' android
Re: Japanese develop 'female' android
Later that day, Repliee Q1 became the first android to be groped on a Japanese subway.
Re: Japanese develop 'female' android
I thought Candice Bergen was the first?
Re: Japanese develop 'female' android
Remember in Westworld the hands were how you knew it was a robot ;)
Re: Japanese develop 'female' android
If they can get the price down, these could be big sellers in China, where young men outnumber young women by a significant percentage.
Those hands look like they could palm a basketball.
Re: Japanese develop 'female' android
"She" looks a bit like Michael Jackson.
Re: Japanese develop 'female' android
She's a small wonder........
Re: Japanese develop 'female' android
Quote:
Professor Ishiguru believes that it may prove possible to build an android that could pass for a human, if only for a brief period.
"An android could get away with it for a short time, 5-10 seconds. However, if we carefully select the situation, we could extend that, to perhaps 10 minutes," he said.
I'd say that's about all the time necessary for the first few people standing in line to buy one of these beauties.
Re: Japanese develop 'female' android
Anyone else find it creepy the way that dude is looking at the robot?
Re: Japanese develop 'female' android
Quote:
Originally Posted by Larkin Fan
Anyone else find it creepy the way that dude is looking at the robot?
Are you sure that's not the beta version of the company's male android? ;)