Android Copy of Young Woman Unveiled In Japan 264
An anonymous reader writes "According to IEEE Spectrum, Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, who had previously built a robot copy of himself, has now created a new android — and it's a 'she.' Geminoid F, a copy of a woman in her 20s with long dark hair, exhibits facial expressions more naturally than Ishiguro's previous android. 'Whereas the Geminoid HI-1 has some 50 actuators, the new Geminoid F has just 12. What's more, the HI-1 robot requires a large external box filled with compressors and valves. With Geminoid F, the researchers embedded air servo valves and an air servo control system into its body, so the android requires only a small external compressor.' It's also much better looking. Has the Japanese android master finally overcome the uncanny valley?"
Oh hell yeah! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Oh hell yeah! (Score:5, Funny)
I want one that looks like my ex-girlfriend!
FTFY
Re:Oh hell yeah! (Score:5, Funny)
I want one that looks like my mother!
FTFY.
Re:Oh hell yeah! (Score:5, Funny)
Funny, I want one that looks like your mother too.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Why?
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Oh hell yeah! (Score:5, Funny)
His girlfriend probably reads slashdot and posting "I want one that looks like my girlfriend's sister!" might get him in a little trouble.
Re: (Score:2)
I want one like that girl back in high school. And I want a really submissive one. Does it have a tongue?
Re:Oh hell yeah! (Score:5, Funny)
The labelling nomenclature could probably be improved to avoid ambiguity.
The cost is terrifying. (Score:2)
Think about it. They're talking about having it on the market for $110K. How much harder do you think it would be to make it replace an employee?
We've already had the first waves of computers replacing people in employment--computers replacing typists, and people with slide rules, and toll collectors, and more recently check-out people at supermarkets. Computers and Robots are just going to get more capable.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, but it may make it easier to replace people at tasks where you don't need human-level sentience, like fast food. Just because we're safe for a little while in highly educated professions doesn't mean this can't profoundly change the world.
> Making a robot look and outwardly act like a human is a long way off from making one with human level sentience.
Finally (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Finally (Score:5, Funny)
My dreams of a robot girlfriend are one step closer to being actualized
I suppose the important questions for you to ask before welcoming this robot girlfriend into your life will be:
* Does she run Linux?
- If not, can you install Linux with or without a 'hack'?
* What flavor of Linux would be best for a robot girlfriend? (and, no, you can't use 'GirLinux')
* Will she still be considered 'female' once she's running Linux or will she be reset to a virgin teenage boy?
* What type of DRM will she have?
- What will the pirate hack to break her DRM be called?
* And last, but not least, can she be programmed not to dump you?
Re: (Score:2)
* What type of DRM will she have?
Pay the [place favorite licensing org here] a monthly fee or you have to pull out when you cum.
Re:Finally (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I'd also advise being wary of certain Creative Commons licenses - robot or not, you might pick up a nasty bug deposited by someone else in the commons.
What about things "installed" or "uploaded" ? (Score:2)
More importantly, what does the EULA says?
Will anything that's "installed" or "uploaded" inside the robot automatically become the properly of the Robotic Company like what Facebook does to its users?
Re:Finally (Score:5, Funny)
* Does she run Linux?
Nope, this is one of those times when you really want Windows instead of Linux.
After all, which one do you think goes down more often? *rimshot*
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
* Will she still be considered 'female' once she's running Linux or will she be reset to a virgin teenage boy?
Unfortunately, I don't think too many teenagers get into Linux these days. At least less so than in the past, I wager..
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
You laugh at him, but you need to realize something: most of your girlfriends are likely being served up to you via a Linux machine already.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
"* Does she run Linux?
Nope, Windows XXX.
- If not, can you install Linux with or without a 'hack'?
Yes, but installing anything from a floppy is obviously out of the question.
* What flavor of Linux would be best for a robot girlfriend? (and, no, you can't use 'GirLinux')
To be honest it doesn't much matter... the speech modules are poorly written no matter which you use, all of the personality packages clearly suffer from Asperger's, and the firmware for *ahem* down below was clearly written by somebody with n
Obligatory (Score:2)
... who had previously built a robot copy of himself, has now created a new android and it's a 'she.'
It's only a matter of time http://xkcd.com/600/ [xkcd.com]
Re:Finally (Score:4, Insightful)
That's hardly a Troll.
Whoever produces the first practical, reasonably lifelike fuckbot is going to be very, very rich. Just because the rest of us don't want one doesn't mean they won't sell in droves.
After all, the inconvenient part about sex with another person is that it requires another person. A practical fuckbot would get rid of that barrier to entry. :)
Re: (Score:2)
So nerds finally have a hope of getting laid?
Re: (Score:2)
Dammit Japan. (Score:4, Informative)
Since it's from Japan, I assume you can have sex with it, and it will be on the market in three months.
Re:Dammit Japan. (Score:5, Funny)
Better make sure the accelerator won't get stuck though!
Re: (Score:2)
Better make sure the accelerator won't get stuck though!
Are you kidding?! That would be the best part!
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I wonder if a sex addiction with medical side effects that can be attributed to doing your fembot too often will cause them to violate those laws? The humorous solution might be to build in a "headache mod" as a safety mechanism. This is of course taking the conjecture that one step too far...
Re: (Score:2)
A robot may not injure a human being
Never heard of death by snu-snu I take it? ;)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Never heard of death by snu-snu I take it? ;)
Is that anything similar to Death by Boonga Boonga?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Does anyone else hate the word "gynoid" as much as me?
Yes ... but mostly because it makes this female robot sound like a guy. That pretty much kills it for me.
Re:Dammit Japan. (Score:4, Insightful)
It's also a worthless neologism article [wikipedia.org] on wikipedia.
_What is it_ with people who dislike the documentation of neologisms on Wikipedia? Where else are you going to be able to find out what a word like "gynoid" means (which I'd never heard of before now)?
If anything, I'd favour the deletion of all non-neologised terms from Wikipedia on the grounds that nobody needs to know what a "table" is or read about Abraham Lincoln because they can always go out and buy a damn book.
The sheer irony of people calling for articles to be deleted because they are neologisms on the one hand, while praising Wikipedia on the other for being a fountain of contemporary knowledge on the other, is just beyond all understanding.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't think think that's a cromulent use of the word cromulent.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Dammit Japan. (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder how often the developers groped the robot as they were building it.
Re: (Score:2)
And it will have tentacles
Wow (Score:3, Funny)
Google is taking this new technology to amazing heights!
Re: (Score:2)
Google is taking this new technology to amazing heights!
Actually, Google should probably sue them for making an "Android". After all, they did threaten the Finnish robotics company Zendroid on the same basis.
Anyone else getting turned on by this sentence? (Score:2)
"With Geminoid F, the researchers embedded air servo valves and an air servo control system into its body, so the android requires only a small external compressor."
Oh yeah... I just wanna touch that small external compressor of yours. I also like your top, it really shows off your air servo valves... kind cold in here isn't it?
Just don't make it speak (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm down with my real doll android, aka Cherry 2000, being able to go get me a beer and thrust back, but as soon as she starts yappin at me, it's back to the whores.
George Lucas did it first (Score:2)
... not to mention better. These things remind me of why the first terminators failed in their tasks as infiltrators. They just looked like machines with rubber skin over them. This just makes them all the more creepy.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Cherry 2010 and if it follows Moore's law they will be posting on slashdot by Cherry 2020.
I would guess that this would be a life extension method at its completion, which allows space for the brain and spinal cord along with an interface. I think that is another of those uncanny valley
Hmmz (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
They accidentally the whole thing!
Does it... (Score:5, Funny)
Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Obligatory Chobits reference... (Score:2)
Goddess, this has been up for minutes and nobody's made the obvious comment...Chii!!!!
And if you don't get the ref...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEvyHXNhHAc [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2)
They make too big a fuzz of it in the Anime, in the Manga after Chii gets him the briefs, Hideki just goes in the store and buys the panty, despite the embarrassing.
Obvious (Score:2)
As always, Robot Chicken cuts to the chase
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O_rXZ381vo [youtube.com]
i'm going to disney world (Score:2)
No. (Score:5, Insightful)
No.
Re: (Score:2)
True, but the gap is getting smaller.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
IMHO "uncanny valley" just means "robotics engineers don't understand people". Whether we feel comfortable interacting with something has little to do with whether it visually approximates Homo Sapiens: Humans relate to other species all the time. Animated movies and TV shows are full of characters that don't resemble humans at all. A long scene [youtube.com] in the movie A.I. of an android grotesquerie that should epitomize the "uncanny valley" elicits sympathy, not fear. Why are these characters so easy to relate
Are you kidding? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is exactly the valley. It looks like a robot. The valley is huge, and it won't be solved by 12 actuators. Unless you're mostly blind.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Are you kidding? (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously. The engineer is plainly making progress over his previous attempts, but he's got a long way to go. Humans are very good at reading subtle cues in other humans, like being able to tell when a friend is distracted by some unexpressed concern. That's what an android engineer is up against. This latest effort is immediately recognizable as a non-human when in motion, and something seems distinctly off about it in still pictures. And considering that even computer-rendered humans in movies -- which is arguably an easier problem -- are still less than 100% convincing in closeups, I'm not holding my breath for convincing androids any time soon.
If we can't get CGI characters to act human... (Score:5, Interesting)
CGI animators, in some sense, have a much easier task then the roboticist. Its much easier to program a full musculature into an animated character than to physically build a robotic one.
The difficulty of all this is exemplified by Robert Zemeckis' dismal "Polar Express" and "A Christmas Carol". Even when capturing hundreds of control points on the faces of the actors, you're still left teetering on the edge of the Uncanny Valley.
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" [ted.com] and "Avatar" were more successful because they did complete surface capture of the actors faces rather than point-capture.
Which gets back to the difficulty of making robots appear human. Its the same problem, magnified 1000 times by the fact that, in essence, you have to pack the equivalent of a millions of "control-points" into the robots face.
Not an easy task.
-Sean
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Which gets back to the difficulty of making robots appear human. Its the same problem, magnified 1000 times by the fact that, in essence, you have to pack the equivalent of a millions of "control-points" into the robots face.
You're thinking about this like a software guy, not a hardware guy. The human face doesn't have that many control points. It has a relatively small set of muscles and a bunch of connective tissue with known (albeit nonlinear) properties.
The problem is that much of what humans do with facial expression is "non-functional" in the sense that it doesn't involve any practical intent or communication. We blink, we chew our lips, we move our muscles simply because stillness is fatiguing. I'm betting that with
The valley is person dependent (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
When does it hit the Marketplace? (Score:2, Funny)
I know a few co-workers who'll probably all be Apple apologists about this next time I see them and promise the iPhone copy of a young woman will come soon, but I gotta say, I knew the open nature of the platform would make it possible on Android first, meaning my trusty Nexus One can...
Oh, wait, that's not what you... oh, I see. *sigh*
Why do we want human-looking robots now? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Even if she looked perfect, the fact that she'd trip and fall over any unexpected bump in the floor ... will make the valley very very deep.
Hmmm. Sounds like you know which way around she'll land after that fall!
He needs to work on the skin texture (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:He needs to work on the skin texture (Score:4, Funny)
I think what's really going on is the lack of skin movement during articulation. The "skin" not visibly stretching creates a plastic, robotic appearance.
Like Joan Rivers and other botox junkies?
He needs to work on the FUR texture (Score:2)
When they start offering them with a big bunny's head and furry paws, then you know it's the end times.
Oh dear... (Score:2)
ANDROID COPY (Score:2)
Wow, it just hit me that everytime I hear or read "android" I automatically think it refers to the google operating system. For a few moments the headline caused a brainspasm as I tried to figure out how that was possible.
Now I wonder what the implications would be if google started claiming copyright on the word android...
But... (Score:2, Insightful)
...can she FOLD TOWELS?
Japanese fembot.. (Score:3, Funny)
Can you get electrocuted during bukakke?
Can it walk? (Score:2)
If so, some scary stuff is near. It wont need much processing on board if you can incorporate the compressor and then wireless.
Chucky Cheese (Score:2, Funny)
hmm (Score:3, Insightful)
"exhibits facial expressions more naturally "
What facial expressions? All I saw in the video were mouth movement up and down and eyes moved.
The texture of the skin is amazingly natural as well as posture, but "facial expressions"?
How long until (Score:2)
How long until realdoll licenses this for all the 40-year-old comic book guy-type guys living in their mothers' basements?
The real question is... (Score:4, Funny)
NOT that you can fuck it - again - see the real doll site for perfectly fuckable pieces of plastic.
The REAL question is: Does she swallow? That takes sensitivity, judgment, timing, and a willingness to hoover baby batter.
Obligatory Futurama Reference (Score:3, Funny)
DON'T DATE ROBOTS! [wikipedia.org].
Pygmalion (Score:4, Interesting)
I certainly hope this story doesn't turn into a modern day retelling of Pygmalion [wikipedia.org] .
Re:Copy of "himself"? (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dJOAf2Dt98 [youtube.com]
Re:the question is... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:the question is... (Score:5, Funny)
...is she anatomically correct ??
It doesn't really matter ... someone will find a way to screw it even if it's sealed tighter than an iPad.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I think it's more shallow in some respects (Score:2)
Watching the video clip, I felt she could pass until she opened her mouth. :)
Simple solution to that, then; don't let her talk
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
That's hot.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
We're not even at the bottom of the valley yet. That thing is clearly a robot, nothing uncanny about it. Most importantly it needs a better mouth and small natural body movements.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not so much an feeling of "ooh, that's so weird" as going from the point where you're impressed at how well-made and interesting looking it is to being unimpressed at the remaining flaws.
In this case, it has a well-made face, but the fact that it doesn't move much except in starts and sputters makes it look palsied. It's not exceptionally creepy. It's just mildly unpleasant to look at in ways that something totally unrealistic like C3PO isn't.
Re: (Score:2)
I agree with your comment about the mouth, but not with "nothing uncanny about it." It creeps me out a fair amount. I don't understand why we can't just have robots that look like robots and people that look like people. R2-D2 wasn't humanoid, wasn't creepy, and was still completely trustworthy.
When R2D2 can blow me then I'll trust... hmmm wait. Maybe that's what made R2D2 trustworthy, that he didn't go around blowing everyone. Would have made a hell of a movie though.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
That would conflict with your nic.
Re:Yes, but (Score:5, Funny)
If it runs Windows you'll end up getting viruses. If it runs something Apple you'll pay for updates (or monthly fees). If it runs Linux you'll have to spend an insane amount of time with it to make it right.
At least with this you get to choose which of the three you want to deal with, whereas with a real life relationship, well, you might get all three at once.