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."

[max americana]

Reminds me of the TERMINATOR: SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES episode where the Terminator Cromartie told the scientist how to formulate and create skin for later use on androids.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

The robot pictured here is a toy and nothing more.

Not at all. This robot is simply a prototype--stage of development toward what the Japanese believe is a huge domestic market of replacing human labor with humanoid robots.

[lmr]

You can have robots do work and they don’t have to look human. As a matter of fact, robots already do work and the best of them look nothing like us. Androids are nothing more than the logical extension of our vanity.

[Abin Sur]

Well, I understand that some weirdos already do, but to each his own, I guess

There's a product called RealDoll for just that purpose. $10,000+ seems a bit high to me when you can rent the real thing for a lot less, mind you.

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

In and of itself, I don't see anything wrong with someone indulging their vanity. It's their money, after all.

[lmr]

It's their money, after all.

I wasn't arguing against whatever version of self-indulgence a potential consumer of such product would have. I only said that such product serves no practical purpose. If it serves no other reason than to entertain someone, I was right to call it a toy.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

Again, the Japanese have identified a market wherein acceptance of robots by the human marketplace depends on their humanoid appearance. Homecare, hospital work, assistance of the elderly, human service, etc. The Japanese are working off a business model and that model has identified a value (a rather large value actually) that derives from a comfortable humanoid appearance.

Vanity is not a part of the equation unless perhaps the target market is pornography...and then instead of vanity, the ingredient is probably heightened stimulation.

BTW, I feel somewhat comfortable is suggesting that the "humanoid companion" market has been taken into account in Japanese thinking vis-a-vis robots.

[lmr]

Again, the Japanese have identified a market wherein acceptance of robots by the human marketplace depends on their humanoid appearance. Homecare, hospital work, assistance of the elderly, human service, etc.

Haha... Your comments reminded me of this:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/2340/saturday-night-live-old-glory

I would rather have a living, breathing nurse or home health aide, myself, but that's just me. I don't think Androids have that much of a future. Sure, it's interesting and all, but I still say it's over-rated.

[lmr]

Sorry:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/2340/saturday-night-live-old-glory

[SonOfDarkSkies]

Yep.

As I said in a previous comment, I tend to agree with you about the prospects of the market the Japanese have targeted (the human robot helper and worker market). It is not a market that feels right to me at the gut level.

But they know their markets and culture, so...I guess we'll see what happens.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

lol...that is hilarious!

[RickB444]

I bet the Democrats are ordering them by the thousands. That way they can design them to look like people who have passed away recently. They can send them to the voting booths with false documents and have them vote Democrat to keep the libs in power. So we will have to start putting up robot scanners at the polling places to make sure robots don’t vote.

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

ROFLOL!

[Erasmus]

That's downright kinski.

[Erasmus]

Well, you do too!

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

True. lol

[Erasmus]

There's a product called RealDoll for just that purpose. $10,000+ seems a bit high to me when you can rent the real thing for a lot less, mind you.

Umm, errr, that depends on the exact terms.

[Richard Kimball]

IIRC, a lot of elderly Japanese have no grandchildren, and one of the markets is for dolls that interact with them. The company that created them had to change some of the programming because the dolls were designed to ask questions, and some of the people would get extremely upset when they didn't know the answer.

So, yeah, these Japanese people would prefer living, breathing grandchildren, but the robots are what they got.

In some ways, though, a lot of people would rather deal with robots or androids than real people because real life is messy. That's the reason a lot of guys prefer porn to real women and watching movies about mountain climbing rather than climbing a real mountain.

BTW, downloaded Bladrunner and watched it last night. Don't know what it has to do with this thread, but it does give you the creeps. We always predict science will move both faster and slower than it really does.

[WePledge]

Two droids and a truckload of faces gives you a sure thing
at any precinct.

R. Daneel Olivaw lives !!!!!

[TASMANIANRED]

So now you can tell someone to go #%%# themselves and they can.