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A New Face For Robotics

tanmay writes "Android technology has moved a step forward with the creation of a high-tech polymer called 'f'rubber,' which resembles human skin. Its creator, David Hanson has implemented it in a robot called Hertz, as this report from CNN gives us the details. Another question that the report brings up is the need to make robots resemble humans. Ray Kurzweil thinks Hanson's work is significant because realistic facial movement will play an important role in the way future androids respond to humans, and has the following to say, 'Intelligence significantly below that of normal humans stands out more with a robot that looks strikingly human. This creates the impression of a human with impaired intelligence, which may strike some as disturbing.'"

37 of 219 comments (clear)

  1. Frubber? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does it make you fly? Or bounce like a super-hero?

    1. Re:Frubber? by i-Chaos · · Score: 2, Funny

      No, but it will cab Robin Williams around in a flying car.

      Oh, wait, that's Flubber...

      --
      ...I am proof that intelligent beings are not always intelligent...
    2. Re:Frubber? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's about time Asia caught up to American progress in this area...

    3. Re:Frubber? by cball2k · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sooooo, we can expect some enhancments to RealDolls... warning, robotic nudity

      --
      karma, hah...
  2. Looks pretty good... by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    That "f'rubber" looks pretty good in the initial testing phases. Not 100% human-like but close.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  3. Disturbing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Intelligence significantly below that of normal humans stands out more with a robot that looks strikingly human. This creates the impression of a human with impaired intelligence, which may strike some as disturbing." Put a blond wig an silicone breasts on it, and it not quite so disturbing...

    1. Re:Disturbing? by Jeremi · · Score: 4, Funny
      Put a blond wig an silicone breasts on it, and it not quite so disturbing...


      Oh yes it IS!

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    2. Re:Disturbing? by bravehamster · · Score: 4, Funny

      Please, PLEASE mark such images as NSF (not suitable for work). I've just been fired because my boss thinks I enjoy looking at skank-hobags during business hours.

      --
      ---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
  4. yeah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    'Intelligence significantly below that of normal humans stands out more with a robot that looks strikingly human. This creates the impression of a human with impaired intelligence, which may strike some as disturbing.'

    Sounds a lot like a description of Dubya.

  5. Too close to human? by chill · · Score: 4, Funny

    The question is, do they dream of electronic sheep?

    -Charles

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  6. Re:f'rubber by Aneurysm · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, you say this angrily when a condom breaks. Like "Damn it broke! f'rubber!"

  7. President Robot? by Sowelu · · Score: 1, Funny

    It WOULD have a good shot for the presidency still, in the United States at least.

  8. mmm wire. by 0x12d3 · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you're lucky enough to meet her, try to ignore the tangle of wires slinking from behind her face. Ignore?!? hell it turns me on!! Grrrrr.

  9. Call the lawyers ! by pytheron · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is clearly a blatant cash-in on the already successful 'flubber' invented by Walt Disney !

    --
    "I am not bound to please thee with my answers" [William Shakespeare]
  10. New RealDolls coming soon? by CyberVenom · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sounds like just the kind of new invetion Abyss Creations has been waiting for. ;)

  11. Re:$100... by n1ywb · · Score: 1, Funny

    Can I get a f'rubber coated realdoll please? Animatronic would be even better!

    --
    -73, de n1ywb
    www.n1ywb.com
  12. word order by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Ray Kurzweil thinks Hanson's work is significant because realistic facial movement will play an important role in the way future androids respond to humans

    Is this sentance backwards, or is he implying that if androids look like humans they will have more empathy towards us and thus only inslave us rather than kill us all?

  13. Re:f'rubber by grub · · Score: 2, Funny


    No, you say this angrily when a condom breaks.

    Umm.. this is slashdot, no one here knows what's actually inside the boxes marked "Condoms" at the pharmacy.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  14. this makes way for... by tsunamifirestorm · · Score: 2, Funny

    very realistic Elvis lookalikes.

  15. Re:$100... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    animatroic Abe Lincoln would kick your ass if you got near his corn-hole.

  16. That is a perfect human face by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    That face is unmistakably human and close to perfect. I am not at all creeped out and don't see what all the fuss is about.

    -Michael Jackson's plastic surgeon

  17. Re:$100... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny


    animatroic Abe Lincoln would kick your ass if you got near his corn-hole.

    I have a deringer. He wouldn't want his head ventilated a second time: Abe is my bitch!

  18. Human skin is all well and good, by Killswitch1968 · · Score: 3, Funny

    But can it run a self-diagnostic?
    Does it have an emotion chip?
    Does it have an evil twin?
    Now THAT'S an android.

    --

    Corporations: your universal scapegoat for all society's ills.
  19. trebliD by NanoGator · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Its creator, David Hanson has implemented it in a robot called Hertz"

    Hmm Hertz makes for a good last name, but what about a first name? It should be something celestial.. timeless... Oh, I know, how about Uranus?

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  20. Breaking news: geek gets laid by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 4, Funny

    We all know the motivation behind robotss that bave skin/body parts that feel more realistic. OTOH, most geeks probably don't have a realistic benchmark to compare to.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  21. Re:$100... by mattjb0010 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'll let you join the dots...

    $100.. says that the first practical use of f'rubber will be in the sex aid industry

    and

    realistic facial movement will play an important role in the way future androids respond to humans

  22. I'm worried by El · · Score: 2, Funny

    Lifelike skin? As soon as they can program this thing to take out the trash, my girlfriend will no longer have any use for me at all!

    --

    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

  23. Re:$100... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    He's animatronic now. What does he care about bullets? He's like the fucking six million dollar man.

    But if you try to diddle him, he's going to use his super-animatronic powers to kick your ass. That's all I'm really trying to say.

    His super-animatronic dong is only for the ladies. And his animatronic corn-hole is only for show.

  24. Impression of human with impaired intelligence.. by jamesjw · · Score: 4, Funny


    Umm.. SCO Management anyone? :)

    -- Jim.

    --
    -- If at first you don't succeed, lie!
  25. Re:ha by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Funny

    Like his previous project, K-bot, Hanson sculpted Hertz to resemble his girlfriend.

    What they don't mention is that his girlfriend is also a robot.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  26. Should gf be worried? by sssmashy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Like his previous project, K-bot, Hanson sculpted Hertz to resemble his girlfriend.

    This is either the sincerest form of flattery, or he's obsessively building a replacement for his girlfriend whose behaviour is controllable, and governed by logic.

    It sort of makes you think...

  27. Re:To paraphrase another Robin Williams film by narftrek · · Score: 3, Funny

    Oh man! I didin't even KNOW there was an "original" Flubber movie. God you ARE old ;)

  28. Re:In the USA, that'd be a plot hole, Bob. by narftrek · · Score: 2, Funny

    Man! That almost seems like it'd work. You must be a lawyer...........

  29. Re:f'rubber by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's candy right? They seem to mostly have flavors listed

  30. Re:f'rubber by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Umm.. this is slashdot, no one here knows what's actually inside the boxes marked "Condoms" at the pharmacy. I resent that remark! I have actually opened them up, and let me tell you, the gum inside those packages tastes terrible!

  31. Al Gore Will be Thrilled by spun · · Score: 4, Funny

    With this upgrade, fewer people will suspect that he is a Disney Animatronic robot. He still needs an upgrade on his Natural Language Processing and Rhythm chips, though. I still voted for him. A robot controlled by Disney is better than one controlled by the Military Industrial complex.

    Heh, I'm just begging for a smackdown from the mods with THAT comment! (of course, I'm protected from all but the smartest of them by that last sentence.)

    Wait. Did I type that last parenthetical aside or just think it? (and that should cover the rest ;-)

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  32. Re:A door is ajar by K8Fan · · Score: 3, Funny

    A friend of mine was a mechanic for a Datsun dealership at the time. As this was long before affordable digital samplers (confined to machines like the Fairlight CMI at the time), the voice was supplied by (believe it or not) a very rugged form of record player. It was made out of a hard plastic and had (I believe) a sapphire needle.

    My friend tired of the English voice, and managed to get replacement "records" for his car. His favorite was the Japanese woman, but he also had a male German voice telling him "Achtung! Die Tur ist angelehnt!"

    --
    "How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb