Japanese develop 'female' android

Jul 27th (5 years ago)

Posted by: jstjohn83

Japanese develop 'female' android
By David Whitehouse
Science editor, BBC News website


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.

We have found that people forget she is an android while interacting with her
Prof Hiroshi Ishiguru

"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."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/47
14135.stm

Published: 2005/07/27 09:10:07 GMT

© BBC MMV

I talk to the customers so the engineers don't have to.

Jul 27th (5 years ago)

Posted by: Goblinboy

is it anatomically correct?

Where's your Messiah now?
-----------------------------------------------
Posted by: heckstorm
If you are a conservative or a Christian or are against gay marriage for some reason, you are a NAZI! AND A HATER AND RACIST. Yeah "burn the fags" hehe.

Heh, I'm only 12 years old and I don't really know what that means but I sure love to say it!
--- Goblinboy

Jul 27th (5 years ago)

Posted by: guiltywhiteboy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4534451.stm

Donny was a good bowler, and a good man. He was one of us. He was a man who loved the outdoors... and bowling, and as a surfer he explored the beaches of Southern California, from La Jolla to Leo Carrillo and... up to... Pismo. He died, like so many young men of his generation, he died before his time. In your wisdom, Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Langdok, at Hill 364. These young men gave their lives. And so would Donny. Donny, who loved bowling. And so, Theodore Donald Karabotsos, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well. Good night, sweet prince.

Jul 27th (5 years ago)

Posted by: Eccojedi

Chobits may come sooner than we expect.

DarkVulkan: I like you. You have balls. I like balls.

www.SdoubleL.net. It's my band! It'll get ya drunk!

Jul 27th (5 years ago)

Posted by: Terp02

So this is good because?????????????????

-Josh

http://www.zanzibarscuf.com
http://www.purevolume.com/ZanzibarScuf
http://www.myspace.com/zanzibarscuf
http://community.webshots.com/user/terp02
http://community.webshots.com/user/frarsh729
-----------------------------------------------------
I hate every ape I see, from Chimpan A to Chimpanzee.

Jul 27th (5 years ago)

Posted by: BoulderDave

josh, didn't you see i robot... we are like... 10 years out from being invated by hostile female robots

I'm moving to Washington D.C.
August 21st.

Jul 27th (5 years ago)

Posted by: +88 Kickin Keys

Haha, if I recall, Terp's already got an early case of Hollywood-induced robotophobia.

Mainstream commercial nihilism can't be trusted?!

Jul 27th (5 years ago)

Posted by: jstjohn83

the day is coming boulder

I talk to the customers so the engineers don't have to.

Jul 27th (5 years ago)

Posted by: Terp02

88KK is right...I do have that fear, but really, do we need anthrorobotics? Isn't our world already over crowded? Aren't we using too much energy? Don't some countries already have have mindless drones following their every command and taking everything too literally?

Unless they start making cool robots like Bender, I'm against all robot making.

-Josh

http://www.zanzibarscuf.com
http://www.purevolume.com/ZanzibarScuf
http://www.myspace.com/zanzibarscuf
http://community.webshots.com/user/terp02
http://community.webshots.com/user/frarsh729
-----------------------------------------------------
I hate every ape I see, from Chimpan A to Chimpanzee.

Jul 27th (5 years ago)

Posted by: gooseman

mr boulder Dave,

if i may be so bold to inqure

how is your blossoming internet relationship going?

Laika's coffin circled the Earth 2,570 times and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere on 4 April 1958.

Jul 27th (5 years ago)

Posted by: Goblinboy

internet relationship(s)?

Where's your Messiah now?
-----------------------------------------------
Posted by: heckstorm
If you are a conservative or a Christian or are against gay marriage for some reason, you are a NAZI! AND A HATER AND RACIST. Yeah "burn the fags" hehe.

Heh, I'm only 12 years old and I don't really know what that means but I sure love to say it!
--- Goblinboy

Jul 27th (5 years ago)

Posted by: +88 Kickin Keys

There's a lot of stuff we don't "need", Terp, I hope you're as passionately against all of that too.

Mainstream commercial nihilism can't be trusted?!

Jul 27th (5 years ago)

Posted by: gooseman

shhhh... they don't know about each other yett!

Laika's coffin circled the Earth 2,570 times and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere on 4 April 1958.