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Japanese develop 'female' android
BBC News ^ | 07/27/2005 | David Whitehouse

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."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: android; butdoesshedodishes; donttelllaz; iwantablond; robot; whotoldlaz; willshecleanhouse; willsheputout; zaq
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To: WaveMan

The Japanese will make billions exporting these to the female deprived millions in China.


221 posted on 07/28/2005 4:32:27 AM PDT by Rebelbase (Mexico, the 51st state.)
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To: al baby
I see your bikini top beer holder and raise you with a bottom holder.


222 posted on 07/28/2005 4:37:11 AM PDT by Rebelbase (Mexico, the 51st state.)
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To: Tree of Liberty
I already know of a company that's working on it.

I hope it's vivid.com, or ddf.com.

223 posted on 07/28/2005 5:50:49 AM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: WaveMan
It just needs a little "tuning" to make it perfect.


224 posted on 07/28/2005 6:02:57 AM PDT by Vinnie_Vidi_Vici
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To: evets

bttt


225 posted on 07/28/2005 6:03:44 AM PDT by ConservativeMan55 (DON'T FIRE UNTIL YOU SEE THE WHITES OF THE CURTAINS THEY ARE WEARING ON THEIR HEADS !)
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To: WaveMan

And $10,000 to finish my robot --- my GIRL robot!


226 posted on 07/28/2005 6:06:32 AM PDT by Conservomax (There are no solutions, only trade-offs.)
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To: Vinnie_Vidi_Vici

Isn't that pic from RealDolls? They make realistic sex dolls.


227 posted on 07/28/2005 6:09:40 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: 1riot1ranger; albee; Argh; Bacon Man; beaureguard; bedolido; Bella_Bru; beyond the sea; ...
Flexible silicon skin Salacious Ping List ping!
228 posted on 07/28/2005 6:56:56 AM PDT by Xenalyte (Anything is possible when you don't understand how anything happens.)
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To: Xenalyte
She even appears to breathe.

Huh. Sounds like my last girlfriend.

229 posted on 07/28/2005 8:35:23 AM PDT by Argh
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To: Xenalyte

230 posted on 07/28/2005 8:41:33 AM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: ovrtaxt

lol... my husband works at CompUSA... but not in the tech area. I gotta wonder if these boys date!


231 posted on 07/28/2005 9:09:08 AM PDT by P-Chan Penny (Eat a toad for breakfast.... it's the worst thing that will happen to you all day!)
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To: pissant

I don't think I saw your name anywhere on this thread.


232 posted on 07/28/2005 9:12:18 AM PDT by GraniteStateConservative (...He had committed no crime against America so I did not bring him here...-- Worst.President.Ever.)
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To: Owl_Eagle

Andorid children for the childless. It's not that crazy.


233 posted on 07/28/2005 9:13:43 AM PDT by GraniteStateConservative (...He had committed no crime against America so I did not bring him here...-- Worst.President.Ever.)
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To: Owl_Eagle

"Android." Damn.


234 posted on 07/28/2005 9:13:56 AM PDT by GraniteStateConservative (...He had committed no crime against America so I did not bring him here...-- Worst.President.Ever.)
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To: GraniteStateConservative

He's busy with the soldering iron...


235 posted on 07/28/2005 9:18:19 AM PDT by RandallFlagg (Roll your own cigarettes! You'll save $$$ and smoke less!(Magnetic bumper stickers-click my name)
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To: Rebelbase
The Japanese will make billions exporting these to the female deprived millions in China.

We'll make the money. Just like we make the best movies and cash in there. We'll make the best girls. It doesn't matter who invents the technology. The money is in the products-- movies, girls, etc.

236 posted on 07/28/2005 9:50:51 AM PDT by GraniteStateConservative (...He had committed no crime against America so I did not bring him here...-- Worst.President.Ever.)
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To: TheForceOfOne

That is hilariously funny !

(Man I hope they leave out the Hysterical and Historical chip)


237 posted on 07/28/2005 10:09:02 AM PDT by johnk (faithful with little....)
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To: GraniteStateConservative

Thanks for the PING. I want the Swedish version, once available! ;o)


238 posted on 07/28/2005 1:13:08 PM PDT by pissant
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To: Millee

She's just doing the jobs that even humans won't do?


239 posted on 07/28/2005 6:06:00 PM PDT by ovrtaxt
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To: Prime Choice

ROFL! :-)


240 posted on 07/29/2005 1:11:47 PM PDT by RadioAstronomer (Senior member of Darwin Central)
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