Japanese Build Pocket Robot-Cellphone Hybrid

An anonymous reader writes "Japanese researchers unveiled yesterday a pocket-size telepresence robot called Elfoid. The device, which looks like a little ghost, transmits voice and motion over a 3G network to convey a person's 'presence' to a remote location. It's a creation of Hiroshi Ishiguro, a professor at Osaka University who is known for his lifelike teleoperated androids. The Elfoid has a limited range of motion, but its creators are planning to equip it with mini-actuators so it can imitate the movements of the person on the other end of the line. With vaguely formed features, the device is designed to be a surrogate of people of any age or gender."

Too Creepy

[Anonymous Coward]

It's too creepy. Destroy this abomination.

Re:Too Creepy

[ArhcAngel]

But wouldn't you like to be able to hear your victim scream as you stick pins in this?

Re:Too Creepy

[trollertron3000]

Agreed. Burn it. Burn it with fire.

FREAKS!

Re:

[ken138888]

Agreed. Burn it. Burn it with fire.

FREAKS!

ya

Re:

[cayenne8]

Yeah....and just wait till one of these things pulls a "Chucky" and starts killing people.....

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[Bahamut_Omega]

Only one series I've seen comes to mind right now. Keitai Sousakan 7. I'm just wondering if the cellphones will be bitching at you not to throw them as well.

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[Darinbob]

Just when you think Japan can't get any weirder, their researchers pull off another breakthrough!

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[dunkelfalke]

This one might be just perfect for Sheldon Cooper, don't you think?

It's That Bad?

[MokuMokuRyoushi]

I don't get it. The *entire* page is filled with people saying how creepy these things are, just like on the CHEETAH page. What's the deal? I'm not Japanese, I'm Texan, but I don't see the creepiness of it. What is it about robots that creeps people out here?

Re:

[Eclipse-now]

I agree! It really is creepy — and limited. It looks like the toys I had as a kid, wire-framed bendy action figures that were meant to be the Greys from "Close encounters". My mum hated them and thought they looked like mutated embryo's.

Not only that, they're too limited. I hate them. They should be focussing on the iPad & tablet market and creating super-cool avatars that beat the pants off anything Xbox has created. Isn't that far more William Gibson than having an ACTION FIGURE for crying ou

riiight...

[Anonymous Coward]

might be my next cellphone? no thanks, I may enjoy the song "voodoo people" by prodigy, but that doesn't mean i want a voodoo doll for a cellphone

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[thedonger]

I'm gonna hold out for the D.P. model. Maybe that one will have real hands and true "reach around" capability.

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[Phoghat]

I'll wait until they make on like this [ieee.org] so I can call 900 numbers.

Oh no, just no

[Anonymous Coward]

Kill it, with fire.

Bender & the card

[Toe, The]

I don't know why, but for some reason, this just makes me think of the robotic greeting card sitting on Bender's shoulder:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Futurama_219_-_Mother's_Day.jpg [wikipedia.org]

Re:

[Luckyo]

This appears to be essentially a 1:1 idea taken from future cell phones shown in macross: frontier. In there the phones made various noises, wiggled, and their "hands" where actually various phone extensions, like headphones. And they appeared to be operated by being squeezed in various way in addition to holographically projected controls.

Re:

[Dabido]

It reminded me immediately of Chobits http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chobits [wikipedia.org] where the human looking computers do exactly as the TFS describes.

Something odd

[Anonymous Coward]

What is wrong with these people?

Re:Something odd

[MickyTheIdiot]

This post really made me laugh for some reason.

If I had a girlfriend though, I would want her to be Japanese. I would love to come home and see her dressed as a maid or in cat ears... I don't think that part of Japanese weirdness is bad AT ALL...

Re:

[MikeDaSpike]

If you go over at sankaku complex (NSFW site) they once in a while post survey results (mostly from 2chan) and the majority of it shows that most japanese girls despise otaku (nerds). Also, for some reason japanese culture thinks that moaning as if you're being raped is the standard while having sex. That might be bad or good, depends on your preferences...

Re:

[bluefoxlucid]

Heh, I keep getting told the same thing: I want to move to Japan, and people keep telling me "Japanese girls hate Americans." I don't really care; I want to get away from this city, and from Tokyo, and this ... mess. Find somewhere quiet, rolling hills, have a nice garden with a sakura tree and some flowers planted around... maybe teach English or Go, spend time in an Izakaya and at an Aikido dojo (and possibly Judo; Judo has always interested me, but it's inaccessible here), learn to cook some....

I lik

Re:

[MokuMokuRyoushi]

Having never been to Japan(though I'd like to pay a long visit!), I'll comment on your distinction between chess and go. My comment is thus; huh? I play both every now and then, and every thrilling aspect of Go you just described is very much present in chess mate. The strategies are just as infinite, the struggles just as plentiful. I'd say one is just as challenging and exciting as the other.

Re:

[bluefoxlucid]

I've always found chess egregiously boring. The first time I played was when I was like 5, against my dad. The second time I was 15, against the top player in my chess club, who nearly cried because he lost. I really had no idea what I was doing, it was like here and checkmate. I always considered it a child's game, where the loser is the idiot schoolyard bully who stands up, punches the nerd in the face, and wins [wcbo.org].

Re:

[MokuMokuRyoushi]

Strangely, I'm having doubts about your story. Random moves from a player who doesn't know the game beating a well-practiced chess player. I wasn't there though, so I suppose I can't know whether the player in question was blindfolded and drugged.

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[notsoanonymouscoward]

Yeah them chess stories sound awfully fishy. Also, as someone who lived in Tokyo for a year, I gotta say there is much variation in the microcosm that is Tokyo. Its not like a vast uniform wasteland of pachinko and soap parlors =)

I've been around Hokkaido, Kyoto, Okinawa, and more. The most "Japanese" experience to my mind at least... was exploring the Izu Hanto, just a day's train ride from the bustle of Tokyo. Your mileage may vary. To bfl, I would suggest that if you do go (and you should!)... go w

Re:

[bluefoxlucid]

I'm not that skilled in Go either; I mostly reached 10kyu because I can outread everyone below 8kyu and most people below 6kyu. That is to say, I can play 12+ moves in my head and go, "... shit, that doesn't work." A lot of brilliant tesuji and joseki I play are things I've never seen; I discover them myself because they give the best result.

Chess is the same way. I want the knight and the bishop out, keep the queen back (I'm leery of using the queen as a primary attacker; it's too powerful to lose in

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

If your partner is silent while having sex, you're doing it wrong.

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[nevillethedevil]

Not if you're into necrophilia

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[tom17]

This post really made me laugh for some reason

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[Darinbob]

I don't see any reason to wake her up after the long day she's had.

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[Phoghat]

And, just in case you were wondering if you are an otaku here [sankakucomplex.com] are ten really good signs.

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[biek]

If I had a girlfriend though, I would want her to be Japanese. I would love to come home and see her dressed as a maid or in cat ears...

This post really made me laugh for some reason

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[ZankerH]

What is wrong with these people?

Prolonged radiation exposure. [imgur.com]

Re:

[bluefoxlucid]

No-Pan Kissa sounds like something Americans would have done first if it was somehow legal or economically favorable.

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[bluefoxlucid]

Too much time talking to Pintsize.

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[Phoghat]

Yeah, you know the Japanese are really turning freakazoid.

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[bar-agent]

"Turning?" Man, they passed freakazoid years ago.

argh!

[ciderbrew]

argh argh! argh!. +1 insightful.

oh yeah

[romco]

sex party!

Chobits

[Anonymous Coward]

This is from Japan, the same people that created the Chobits anime and manga series. I truly wonder if they are related. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Chobits [wikimedia.org]

So it's...

[UberWhack]

...just another android phone?

Obligatory marketing slogan

[dkleinsc]

"Your plastic pal who's fun to be with"

And if it's tele-operated, the applications of this tech for adult entertainment are obvious.

Re:

[tom17]

Oh go stick your head in a pig!

Re:

[Darinbob]

"Excuse me, but I seem to be hearing a ring tone coming from your crotch"

Harold and Kumar go to white castle!?

[LiENUS]

Why is Harold in the photo at the top of the article?

/. Daily News

[Even on Slashdot FOE]

Today's top story is from the Uncanny Valley. Apparently they're letting unspeakable things tour our fair country.

Let me be the first to say, "OH GOD PLEASE GET IT AWAY FROM ME, I'LL DO ANYTHING!!!1!"

Glowing Chest

[brunes69]

Please tell me the blue glowing chest does not turn red when it is "downloading" ?

Thanks Japan

[Nadaka]

Only you can take delusional schizophrenia and make it real.

This looks like crazy people talking to dolls.

Re:

[bluefoxlucid]

No it doesn't; when crazy people talk to dolls, the dolls don't talk back.

Re:

[Nadaka]

Sure they do, but only the schizo can hear it.

Re:

[Darinbob]

"What's that you say, little ghost friend? Kill all humans?"

little ghost

[adavies42]

Little ghost, little ghost
One I'm scared of the most
Can you scare me up a little bit of love?

Not bad at all. Great start.

[Millennium]

Call me when they finish Sumomo.

Re:

[RemyBR]

Seconded, although I'd rather have Kotoko.

Hiiiiiideeeee Hooooo!

[TrebleJunkie]

Paint it brown, and it's Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo.

Is that a robot in your pocket or...

[space_jake]

Oh it is.

Well, eventually we'd hope to get...

[Chris Mattern]

here. [minitokyo.net]

Wrong body parts

[tgrigsby]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this thing is going to speak to you through its ears and listen to you through its feet?

Hm.

No, that's not weird at all....

The ultimate baby monitor?

[wrencherd]

It looks kind of interesting to me. I think there's a potential there; a terrific baby monitor maybe?

It certainly beats a facebook page like a drum, esp. for showing "horny" status.

Puppet, not robot, damn it!

[Kaz Kylheku]

A robot is autonomous; it does not simply follow someone else's movements.

E.g. Wikipedia:

A robot is a virtual or mechanical artificial agent. In practice, it is usually an electro-mechanical machine which is guided by computer or electronic programming, and is thus able to do tasks on its own. Another common characteristic is that by its appearance or movements, a robot often conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own.

WTF is a "robotic ghost"?

[t0p]

What's that "looks like a little ghost" mean? Does it wear a white sheet with eye-holes? Or is it a horrific creature a la Hellraiser?

Re:

[bar-agent]

Well, it is a horrific creatureâ¦but not a la Hellraiser.