The Creepiest, Most Realistic Robot Ever (Extremely realistic android - video)

FoxNews.com ^ | 3/7/2011

[SonOfDarkSkies]

Incredibly cool or insanely creepy? Yes, that is an actual robot.

Japanese researchers have blurred the lines between man and machine with their latest robot, the incredibly realistic Geminoid DK.

It is the third of the Geminoid series, a line of androids designed by Hiroshi Ishiguro, a professor at Osaka University and his team at Japan's Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) in Nara.

The robot has been constructed to look exactly like Henrik Scharfe, an associate professor of Aalborg University in Denmark and is the first of the series based on a non-Japanese person.

"Geminoid|DK will be the first of its kind outside of Japan," the group explains on the robot's website. "[It is] intended to advance android science and philosophy, in seeking answers to fundamental questions."

[SonOfDarkSkies]

Well, factories are filled with them. They just aren’t humanoid looking because they don’t need to be.

[NoLibZone]

They should have made this instead:

[lmr]

Well, factories are filled with them. They just aren’t humanoid looking because they don’t need to be.

Duh. I wasn't talking about those Robots. I was talking about the Robots in the video and the article and the picture here. The ones that look humanoid. I understand that there are different robots that are very useful. I was speaking of the usefulness of a humanoid robot, not those other robots which are essentially over-rated CNC machines, anyhow.

[LonePalm]

Let me know when you get one that can pass a Turing Test.

I don't think Al Gore can pass one.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

Wow. That’s kind of creepy. And it sure does look ugly without its skin on.

[Defiant]

Perfect! Now I have something to take to the carpool lane.

Although they did make him look like a serial killer.

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

Rofl

[sjmjax]

An early Algore prototype....

[The Wizard]

Call me when they have is sister......

[The Wizard]

Call me when they have his sister......

[SonOfDarkSkies]

My point is that, for the most part, form follows function in robotics. The Japanese are doing a lot of advanced work on androids because they have identified that as a prospective market (homecare, human services, etc.).

I'm sure there is zero R & D that isn't in some way profit-oriented. And a lot of advanced machinery that has been developed for factories and labs (touch, smell, sight, movement, AI) has direct application for android development.

That said, I have had my doubts about the economic potential of the Japanese android work. Great courage on their part to identify such a bizarre (IMO) market

[Abin Sur]

Yes, they are very realistic but what else do they do? If they can't do anything, they serve no purpose other than a museum or science center novelty. I guess I could see some applications in Hollywood, but these wouldn't last forever.

The first cars and airplanes weren't very practical either. Give it another half century.

[Dr. Sheldon Cooper]

[MrB]

If it will denigrate and destroy the traditional family,
the left’s for it.

[Abin Sur]

Speaking of Japanese culture, here's a video of a Japanese concert in which the on-stage performer is a 3-D hologram:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXO7KGHtjI&feature=player_embedded

[BenLurkin]

[lmr]

The first cars and airplanes weren't very practical either. Give it another half century.

Androids are overrated and aren't the wave of the future, in my opinion. Artificial Intelligence, on the other hand, is the future and it doesn't require a human form to be useful, either. The robot pictured here is a toy and nothing more.

[Abin Sur]

In general, I agree. There have been practical non-humanoid robots for decades on assembly lines. I’m not sure exactly how long it will take for true A.I. to come about, but I see no reason in principle why it won’t appear in the next century or so.

[Big Bronson]

http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/redruth/507/robosexual.wav

[lmr]

Cheers. The creation of Androids is an exercise in extreme vanity. It's only natural for people to think that machines should look and act like us, but it is superficial and these machines serve no real purpose. Would people use such robots for companionship? Well, I understand that some weirdos already do, but to each his own, I guess. I prefer the organic kind myself, especially when talking about the opposite sex. ;-P

Artificial Intelligence is different, though. The concept may be vain, but it also serves other legitimate uses and not just to satisfy our vanity.