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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: frogjerk
Make her look less oriental, give her blond hair, stick her in a black pantsuit, and OUILA!

Its Hillary!

41 posted on 07/27/2005 12:02:54 PM PDT by FormerACLUmember (Honoring Saint Jude's assistance every day.)
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To: FormerACLUmember

No, the robot does not have "cankles."


42 posted on 07/27/2005 12:03:43 PM PDT by MeanWestTexan
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To: grobdriver
Needs hooters.

here you go


43 posted on 07/27/2005 12:04:36 PM PDT by darkwing104 (Let's get dangerous)
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To: Argus
Sooner or later they'll ruin a good thing by making it able to talk...And its first words will be "Charge it."

HA! HA! LOL!....or "I have a headache".

44 posted on 07/27/2005 12:05:17 PM PDT by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you :^)
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To: KarlInOhio

LOL!


45 posted on 07/27/2005 12:05:28 PM PDT by BenLurkin (O beautiful for patriot dream - that sees beyond the years)
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To: darkwing104

My robot, my girl robot. It will be the best prom ever.


46 posted on 07/27/2005 12:06:02 PM PDT by TXBSAFH (The pursuit of life, liberty, and higher tax revenue (amended by the supreme 5).)
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To: WaveMan

I prefer the natural warmth and beauty of a cyborg.


47 posted on 07/27/2005 12:06:53 PM PDT by Petronski (I love Cyborg!)
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To: sonofatpatcher2; jbeachgrl5; sharktrager; day10; scott7278; the invisib1e hand; G Larry; MadIvan; ..

Armada Room Ping

Folks, it looks as though things may be taking a turn for singles folks...


48 posted on 07/27/2005 12:06:56 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: WaveMan
There once was a hacker named Ken,
Who inherited truckloads of yen.
    So he built him some chicks
    Out of silicon chips,
And he hasn't been heard from since then.

49 posted on 07/27/2005 12:07:00 PM PDT by Prime Choice (Thanks to the Leftists, yesterday's deviants are today's "alternate lifestyles.")
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To: Calpernia

LOL!!


50 posted on 07/27/2005 12:07:08 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkes.)
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To: frogjerk
Looks like her hands are in mourning....

...Or is she attempting to snatch one of Michael Jackson's well-worn nicknames???

51 posted on 07/27/2005 12:07:20 PM PDT by ExcursionGuy84 ("I will Declare the Beauty of The LORD.")
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To: OXENinFLA

Mrs?

Does this mean the the USSC decision coupled with Mass. will allow humans to marry their androids?

Will a human male be allowed to marry a female android? Adopt children? (and vice versa?)

How smart do androids have to be to "give consent" for marriage?

If androids have the ability to give consent, can an android be owned? Will we have to "free the androids"?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.


(/s)


52 posted on 07/27/2005 12:07:33 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE!)
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To: Petronski

Love your new tagline. :)


53 posted on 07/27/2005 12:08:24 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkes.)
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To: ExcursionGuy84

The gloves must be to conceal the unnatural feel and look of her hands.


54 posted on 07/27/2005 12:08:26 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE!)
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To: WaveMan

55 posted on 07/27/2005 12:08:35 PM PDT by JohnnyZ ("I believe abortion should be safe and legal in this country." -- Mitt Romney)
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To: Petronski

Ba dum bum.


56 posted on 07/27/2005 12:08:40 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: WaveMan; Jersey Republican Biker Chick
Before Repliee Q1, Professor Ishiguru developed Repliee R1 which had the appearance of a five-year-old Japanese girl.
 
This is too sick for even me.
Owl_Eagle

(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,

 it was probably sarcasm)

57 posted on 07/27/2005 12:08:41 PM PDT by End Times Sentinel (In Memory of my Dear Friend Henry Lee II)
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To: WaveMan

Repost. And it was over a month ago.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1421835/posts


58 posted on 07/27/2005 12:08:46 PM PDT by Triggerhippie (Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.)
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To: frogjerk

Dreaming of electric sheep again, eh?


59 posted on 07/27/2005 12:09:25 PM PDT by Prime Choice (Thanks to the Leftists, yesterday's deviants are today's "alternate lifestyles.")
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To: WaveMan

Hmmm ... I just kind of assumed that Japanese females already ARE androids.


60 posted on 07/27/2005 12:09:29 PM PDT by Chi-townChief
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