Posted on 07/27/2005 11:51:46 AM PDT by WaveMan
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."
WOW - She's close to a hottie. You know what this means don't you, what if someone wants to marry her? Oh, I don't EVEN want to think about it ...
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've not read all of the posts yet....but she has man-hands.
LOL!
(in aviation talk it's known as a vertical stabilizer)
My eyes! My eyes!
The Japanese ROCK!
What'll it cost me to get one that looks like Michelle Malkin??
But I doubt such a thing is even feasible for at least 6 or more generations. The amount of storage capacity required for a robot to have the same capabilities of an actual living life form (she can actually dream when she shuts down to recharge for instance, think of it like a really powerful screensaver I guess, I don't recall exactly how it works)...Wow I don't even want to imagine the initial cost. And I'm sure they'd be far more delicate. Not because of a lack of sturdy yet light materials, but to prevent one from thinking it can erradicate everyone Terminator style, or building something like that on its own.
Don't be distracted...It's not about robots....it's about cloning.
Well at least as a cyborg, she isn't a cold fish like an android.
Sounds like a Baptist/Mormon version of a Real Doll to me.
AAAHH!! Ellie from Halloween III.
You and I are probably the only two on the planet who'd recognize that pic.
I agree.
i dunno if you are here, yet, but this thread is fun
harvest this thread, please - lest it be removed without record.
"HAAAAAAAAAARRRRCOURT!"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.