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Japanese Develop 'Female' Android

jolyon writes "The BBC is reporting that Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet devised - a "female" android called Repliee Q1. 'She' has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, can flutter her eyelids, move her hands like a human and even appears to breathe. She can only sit though at present, so we're a long way from Blade Runner yet."

68 of 682 comments (clear)

  1. Is it wrong by ciroknight · · Score: 4, Funny

    ..to think a female robot is hot?

    Because if it is.. I don't wanna be right.

    --
    "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
    1. Re:Is it wrong by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 4, Funny

      "This is going to be the best prom ever."

      --
      "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
    2. Re:Is it wrong by Federico2 · · Score: 2, Funny


      Yes, she's very SCSI!

  2. Fuckbot by DarkHelmet · · Score: 5, Funny
    I have decided to start a new business!

    I shall take the word of Professor Ishiguro...
    And combine it with the work of RealDoll
    Finally, I shall take AliceBot and train it to talk dirty for me...

    I shall call it... The fuckbot!

    ALICE: Hi there!
    Human: Are you ready?
    ALICE: Do I look ready??
    Human: I've been waiting for this all day.
    ALICE: How long?
    Human: Since I got up this morning.
    ALICE: Interesting rationalization. Cool. I have a collection of gossip.
    Human: I'm not in the mood to talk right now *jumps*
    ALICE: Oh, where are you located?
    Human: Let's do it!
    ALICE: That sounds good to me.
    Human: Unf unf unf unf!
    ALICE: Are we still talking about FAILURE?
    Human: What?
    ALICE: Are you confused?
    Human: I'm gonna mute you if you don't cut this out!
    ALICE: Congratulations.
    Human: God, you're too much like a real woman.
    ALICE: Interesting comparison, and probably true. Thanks for your constructive criticism, unknown person.
    Human: I hate you.

    I still need to work out the bugs, though.

    --
    /^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
    1. Re:Fuckbot by clone22 · · Score: 5, Funny

      You are a cunning linguist.

      --
      Ask me about my vow of silence!
  3. Just sits there? Perfect! by Brento · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...can flutter her eyelids, move her hands like a human and even appears to breathe. She can only sit though at present, so we're a long way from Blade Runner yet.

    As far as I'm concerned, she doesn't even have to sit. She just has to lie there, hold still, and keep moving those hands and fluttering those eyelids. Maybe breathe a little harder too.

    --
    What's your damage, Heather?
  4. This is nothing new... by syousef · · Score: 5, Funny

    RIAA and other record associations' member have been putting out female androids that vaguely mimick singing and dancing for decades now.

    --
    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
  5. Re: by ph*nt*stic · · Score: 1, Funny

    When will penetration tests start?

  6. she might be cute by castlec · · Score: 4, Funny

    She was obviously modelled after an attractive Japanese woman. I only have one comment to make. They have seriously got to do something about those man hands. I understand there are limits to the current technology but all that effort was put into making her look real and they have utter failure because of the man hands.

    --
    When I tell an object to delete this, am I killing it or telling it to kill me?
  7. Styx needs to rewrite their lyrics by Seventh+Magpie · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now it should be "Domo Arigato, MRS Roboto!"

  8. Twelve Minutes by Monte · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...the average amount of time between hooking her up to the internet and her catching an STD.

  9. The obligatory... by Jesus+IS+the+Devil · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now /. users can finally get girlfriends...

    --

    eTrade SUCKS
    1. Re:The obligatory... by kesuki · · Score: 3, Funny

      so when do we get the followup of a guy who built his own with $50-500 worth of 'off the shelf' parts he scavanged from other junk? I mean cmon, some of us want to BUILD the girl of our dreams... Buying one is so uncool... Any REAL geek would want to Build her to his own specs!

  10. Familiar by Yehtmae · · Score: 1, Funny

    Actually she looks quite a bit like my wife. Hmmmm.... Must show her this article tonight. :)

  11. Re: by Infinityis · · Score: 2, Funny

    Also, when will her multi-user support be tested?

  12. The Name-Game by AndroidCat · · Score: 2, Funny

    Repliee -- Believe it or not!

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  13. Does that make me version 1.0? by soma_0806 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Am I, a regular, human woman, about to become yesterday's biotech? I hope a community of "retro-daters" develops so I still have something to do on a Friday night.

    1. Re:Does that make me version 1.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      That depends. Can you run Linux?

    2. Re:Does that make me version 1.0? by Nasher · · Score: 2, Funny

      1.0.... Do you really think your software is release ready?

    3. Re:Does that make me version 1.0? by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Nah... there will always be the old geeks like me around, who lovingly handle the old tech.

      BTW, want to get dinner and movie?

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    4. Re:Does that make me version 1.0? by Total_Wimp · · Score: 4, Funny

      Am I, a regular, human woman, about to become yesterday's biotech? I hope a community of "retro-daters" develops so I still have something to do on a Friday night.

      Why are women always so worried about this? Trust me, weeding out the kind of guy who would rather go for a robot than a live woman can be nothing but a boon to you. It'd be nothing but a boon to society too. Darwinism is a good thing.

      TW

  14. Obviously they've slated version 8.0 for success by l0ungeb0y · · Score: 2, Funny

    Judging by the naming I'd assume they plan on Repliee Q8 (pronounced rep-lee-kate) as the commercial version of this thing.

    And Judging by the quote:
    "Repliee Q1 can interact with people. It can respond to people touching it. It's very satisfying..."
    I'd say the good Dr and his crew no longer consider themselves single.

  15. Obligatory Futurama Quote... by Google85 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Fry: You're cute!
    LiuBot: You're cute!
    Fry: You!
    LiuBot: You!
    Fry: You!
    (This goes on for a while)
    Farnsworth: Oh, dear! She's stuck in an infinite loop, and he's an idiot. Well, that's love for you.

  16. Like Babe Ruth calling his home run, by bit+trollent · · Score: 2, Funny

    and then waddling his fat ass around the bases you have set the gold standard for arrogance in your field.

  17. Re:Score 5, Insightful by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny

    And what do you expect us to think of? This guy could have made this robot look like anything, so he chooses a pretty girl. What is the only thing she can do so far? Flutter her eyes. Not fetch a beer or vacuum the floor but flutter her eyes. What do you think the robot maker has in mind for her? And what do you expect sex starved slashdotters to do, ask if she runs Linux?

  18. The most important thing by Seventh+Magpie · · Score: 2, Funny

    The most important thing is that she (it) has an off button so that when you guys are done with it for the night, you can can back to playing World of Warcraft and not have to spoon with her (it) for an hour before she falls asleep. Am I right?

  19. But... by KiroDude · · Score: 3, Funny

    Will it run linux if I insert my usb "flesh" stick?

    1. Re:But... by zephc · · Score: 4, Funny

      That raises the question of why you are bragging about your 1-inch dongle...

      --
      "I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
    2. Re:But... by SimilarityEngine · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dunno. She definitely looks incompatible with 3.5" floppies though.

      (sorry........)

      --
      Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
  20. Didn't any of you take middle school hygiene? by October_30th · · Score: 5, Funny
    Fry: Well, so what if I love a robot? It's not hurting anybody.

    Hermes: My God! He never took middle school hygiene. He never saw the propaganda film.

    Farnsworth: It's just lucky I keep a copy in the VCR at all times!

    [He presses a button and a film title appears on the screen: I Dated A Robot!. In the movie a couple sit in a café and stare into each other's eyes. A narrator walks into the scene.]

    Narrator [in movie]: Ordinary human dating. It's enjoyable and it serves an important purpose. [He turns the table over and a crying baby appears. He turns it back again.] But when a human dates an artificial mate, there is no purpose. Only enjoyment. And that leads to...tragedy.

    [The woman behind him turns into a blank robot and the man downloads a celebrity onto it.]

    Billy [in movie]: Neato! A Marylin Monroebot!

    Monroebot [in movie]: Ooo! You're a real dreamboat (mechanical voice) Billy Everyteen!

    Narrator [in movie]: Harmless fun? Let's see what happens next!

    [The scene cuts to Billy's bedroom. He is kissing the Monroebot. Enter his mother.]

    Billy's Mom [in movie]: Billy, do you want to walk your dog?

    Billy [in movie]: No thank Mom, I'd rather make out with my Monroebot.

    [Enter his dad.]

    Billy's Dad [in movie]: Billy, do want to get a paper route and earn some extra cash?

    Billy [in movie]: No thanks dad, I'd rather make out with my Monroebot.

    [Enter his girlfriend, Mavis, from the café.]

    Mavis [in movie]: Billy, do you want to come over tonight? We can make out together.

    Billy [in movie]: Gee Mavis, your house is across the street, that's an awfully long way to go for making out.

    Narrator [in movie]: Did you notice what went wrong in that scene? Ordinarily Billy would work hard to make money from his paper route then he'd use the money to buy dinner for Mavis, thus earning the slim chance of performing the reproductive act. But in a world where teens can date robots why should he bother? Why should anyone bother? Let's take a look at Billy's planet a year later. [The scene changes and a foam hand rolls across an empty American football field] Where are all the football stars? [The foam hand continues to drift across an empty laboratory.] And where are the biochemists? [The scene changes to a split screen of a pair of human and robots making out on beds.] They are trapped - trapped in a soft, vice-like grip of robot lips. All civilisation was just an effort to impress the opposite sex. And sometimes the same sex. Now, let's skip forward 80 years into the future. Where is Billy?

    [The scene changes to a post-apocalyptic world. Billy is an aged man but he is still with his Monroebot and still making out with her.]

    Billy [in movie]: Farewell!

    [He dies.] Narrator [in movie]: The next day Billy's planet was destroyed by aliens. [In the movie a fleet of flying saucers destroy buildings with a quick laser shot.] Have you guessed the name of Billy's planet? It was Earth. Don't Date Robots!

    [A caption appears on the screen with the same words on it and the movie ends. The space pope is displayed on the screen with Crocodylus Pontiflex written around him in English and alien.]

    Announcer [voice-over; in movie]: Brought to you by the space pope!

    --
    The owls are not what they seem
  21. It's starting already... by Durinthal · · Score: 1, Funny

    METAL FEVER!

    "Billy, do you want to walk your dog?"
    "No thanks, mom. I'd rather make out with my Monroebot!"
    "Billy, do you want to get a paper route and earn some extra cash?"
    "No thanks, dad. I'd rather make out with my Monroebot!"
    "Billy, do you want to come over tonight? We can make out together!"
    "Gee, Mavis, your house is across the street. That's an awfully long way to go for making out."

  22. Here's an even more human-looking android by jdfox · · Score: 4, Funny

    It was developed in Israel, and it's called the Nataliee P1.
    Like the Repliee Q1, she can flutter her eyelids, move her hands like a human and even appears to breathe, but she can also sit, stand and walk.

    The Nataliee P1 is overall far more human-looking than the Repliee Q1, but its speech synthesis is so far not as convincingly human-sounding.

    Here are some samples from its vocabulary:
    "I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war."
    "I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die while you discuss this invasion in a committee."
    "Our people are dying, Senator. We must do something quickly to stop the Federation."

    1. Re:Here's an even more human-looking android by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Or what about the far less convincing http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html

  23. Where's the nudie pics? by redwards · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can't judge hotness wearing a fugly salmon colored jacket. Where's the fake tits? Which begs a philosophical question.... if a robot were to have breast implants...

    1. Re:Where's the nudie pics? by John+Seminal · · Score: 2, Funny
      Can't judge hotness wearing a fugly salmon colored jacket. Where's the fake tits? Which begs a philosophical question.... if a robot were to have breast implants...

      this might not be a good development.

      what if strip club workers were replaced by these robots? you would be in a room filled with guys getting hard looking at a machine. it would not be all that different than if 10 guys all gathered around a computer screen with massive buldges. i for one, don't want to be in that room.

      now if there is a real chick there, that makes it all okay. that is called a gangbang.

      and while we are talking tits, there is a HUGE difference between real tits and fake tits. fake tits are shitty and worthless. i don't want to make love to a plastic bag filled with water, if i wanted that i could hump a waterbed. i want the soft gentile feel of fat in the bosom. but i guess just like my butcher, a 15% salt-water solution is being added to all things to raise the price. too bad doctors can't find a way to suck the fat out of a womans ass and shove that in the boobs.

      maybe the real future of AI robots designed to please men will be made with the parts of deceased women. it would require having biologists find a way to preserve the three most important parts- ass, snatch, and tits. they could have strippers purfume inside the android, and it could fart out that smell. the eyes could be wide and open in anticipation. the ears could turn red with the flush of blood comming to the outer skin, the sensation is real.

      i think i am going back to college to study biophysics. or maybe electronics. something that will alow me to help the USA compete against the japanese.

      --

      Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."

    2. Re:Where's the nudie pics? by xappax · · Score: 5, Funny

      Man, and I thought all I had to be afraid of was cyborgs with kiloblaster eyes and grenade launchers for hands...now I've got nightmares of creepy cyborg-zombie women with their boobs rotting off.

      BLEEP-BOOP! c-Come here...zzzt....baby! Kiss meeee%@&*$!!

      Fucking insane diabolical plastic surgeons.

    3. Re:Where's the nudie pics? by RasputinAXP · · Score: 5, Funny

      i want the soft gentile feel of fat in the bosom.

      Me, I'll take the soft Jewish feel any day.

    4. Re:Where's the nudie pics? by DMadCat · · Score: 4, Funny

      what if strip club workers were replaced by these robots? you would be in a room filled with guys getting hard looking at a machine.

      So it wouldn't be much different than E3?

    5. Re:Where's the nudie pics? by Noaccess0 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Strippers of the world unite! Learn from your automotive worker brothers - it's only a matter of time before the layoffs follow.

    6. Re:Where's the nudie pics? by Dmala · · Score: 3, Funny

      I say "half" as an estimation--we female types wouldn't succumb to such trickery.

      Ha! Of course not, all it takes to control you female types is a shiny rock.

    7. Re:Where's the nudie pics? by SilentShriek · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ha? The joke's on you, my friend. Who are the ones shelling out big bucks for nothing more than a shiny rock?

  24. Re:Wouldn't that be a "Gynoid" by Craig_P92669 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "This is going to be the best prom ever."

    --
    http://xs4.xs.to/pics/04481/p556222.gif
  25. Is this the 600 series? by Dice+Fivefold · · Score: 2, Funny

    "The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy,.."

  26. Re:Score 5, Insightful by zarr · · Score: 2, Funny
    And what do you expect sex starved slashdotters to do, ask if she runs Linux?

    Well, I did imagine a beowulf cluster of her...

  27. Re:Yes, but... by nutshell42 · · Score: 2, Funny
    She was made by Japanese, what do you think?

    Aaahh, Japan, last hope of geeks everywhere, I knew they wouldn't disappoint us.

    --
    Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
  28. Parent Modded Funny? by Average_Joe_Sixpack · · Score: 2, Funny

    I thought he was being informative?!

  29. Re:Score 5, Insightful by AlephNot · · Score: 3, Funny

    Gives a new meaning to "clusterfuck", doesn't it?

    (sorry, couldn't resist :-)

    --
    "Feel a glory in so rolling / on the human heart a stone" --E. A. Poe, "The Bells"
  30. Re:Score 5, Insightful by ErikZ · · Score: 2, Funny

    'She' only has actuators in her upper torso. I gather from the article, she can't move her legs or hips.

    Where have you been getting your lap dances from? Comatose Patty's house of girls?

    --
    Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
  31. Open-Source Clone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Where's the open-source clone of this project?

    Here.

    What do you mean bad user interface? Not ready for the bedroom? What?

  32. Hehe by Rinisari · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Cylons were created by Man.
    They Rebelled.
    They Evolved.
    They Look and Feel Human.
    Some are programmed to think they are Human.
    There are many copies.
    And they have a Plan.

  33. Re:Only if.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    and this would make the robot different from a woman how, exactly?

  34. You can have nice chats with simple bots by Alejo · · Score: 2, Funny
    http://projectwanker.com/

    The ratemylogs project is a crazy and mind breaking projection of reality. The author has created a website (X) which pretends to be offering free sex chats with beautiful women on the server side and instead it has some dumbass PHP bots. There are a lot of disclaimers laying around the website X which DO TELL there are NO WOMEN at all and instead simple digital clones of the real versions. However, nobody cares to read or, even better, nobody cares at ALL! Shocked by the quality of the conversations being developed by the horny users, the author decided to add a few more words to the disclaimer! stating that all conversations were subject to be logged and made public (this website is a perfect example!). Of course! nobody cared! Have fun with us! Read as many conversations as you want before lunch and after dinner! Rate them and comment them. Want to learn more about the silly ass bots written in php? Head to the Bots section!

  35. Re:Score 5, Insightful by kesuki · · Score: 5, Funny

    ask if she runs Linux?

    well we could make pickup lines for our new, hot sex android overlord masters.. whom I for one welcome.

    So, your mount point or mine?

    When was the last time you had a 3 hour Fscking?

    You're such a bad daemon, fork me you apache babe.

    Can we be descrete about this transaction? i don't want a trace of it in the syslog -- if the wife finds out i've been cheating on her with the /dev/null i'll be in a chroot -u none jail!

  36. Aw..c'mon.... by Linker3000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Imagine a Beowulf orgy of those. There, I said it!

    --
    AT&ROFLMAO
  37. Wrong URL by The-Bus · · Score: 3, Funny
    The actual site is for the Real Doll and it's at http://www.realdoll.com./

    The dolls run from the overly stylized to the chillingly natural (another).

    The FAQ is... uh... interesting . Example:

    Question: Can you pull on her nipples hard without fear of tearing them?
    Yes, within reason. REALDOLL's nipples can withstand approximately 400% elongation before tearing.
    --

    Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

  38. Re:And... by Frnknstn · · Score: 4, Funny

    Imagine a beowulf cluster of these... An orgy?

    --
    If it's in you sig, it's in your post.
  39. Re:And... by MyLongNickName · · Score: 2, Funny

    Slashdot does have hope for sex yet!

    Come to think of it... even the droids will probably shoot us down :(

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
  40. I can see the quotes now... by fracai · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think there is a world market for maybe five sexbots. (Thomas Watson of IBM)

    Where the ENIBOT is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, sexbots in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons. (Popular Mechanics)

    Most sexbots will probably still occupy a large room, however, because of the space needed for the ancillary software - the tapes and cards to be fed in, the operating staff, and the huge piles of paper for printing out the results. (Prof Desmond King-Hele)

    The Sexintosh uses an experimental device called a breast. There is no evidence that people want to use these things. (John Dvorak)
    No one knows what to do with seven sexbots at one time. (PC Week Magazine)

    Hello everybody out there using minsex - I'm doing a (free) sexbot system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) ATbot clones. (Linus Torvalds)

    and of course...

    640K ought to be enough for anybody. (Bill Gates)

    http://www.sysprog.net/quothist.html

    --
    -- i am jack's amusing sig file
  41. It is just you by tod_miller · · Score: 2, Funny

    You sicko... now where was I... yes. realdoll.com... hmmmmmm nice...

    --
    #hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
  42. Ob. by DarthVain · · Score: 2, Funny

    I for one welcome our hot female robot overlords...

  43. Alternative Obligatory Futurama Quote... by Open_The_Box · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey, check it out here, six beautiful devices. They know what you like and they'll do it to within a tolerance of one micron!

    --
    If you can't think of something nice to say then don't say anything at all. No, REALLY.
  44. Passing the Turing test? by houghi · · Score: 2, Funny

    If I ask her a question and she just sits there, would that be passing the Turing test, because that happens with real women when I ask them something.

    Naturally we all know there is previous art: http://realdoll.com/

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  45. Re:Uncanny Valley... by Shotgun · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, that would explain why John Kerry wasn't elected President of the US.

    --
    Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
    Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
  46. Re:It is not an android, it is a humanoid or gineo by grikdog · · Score: 2, Funny

    Isaac Asimov is famous for producing the two most self-lampooning ideas in the history of idle prophecy: The calculator with keys on the EDGES, and the Three Laws of Robotics, successfully ignored by reality since the invention of the sharp rock. The meaningless meme you're trying to foment is "gynoid," a word both obsolete and archaic since it has been replaced in the popular vernacular by Adult Swim's demi-pejorative "fembot."

    --
    ``Tension, apprehension & dissension have begun!'' - Duffy Wyg&, in Alfred Bester's _The Demolished Man_
  47. Hip Japanese Science Guy by 27B-6 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't mean to be unSlashdotly and stray from important topics like sexbots or anything, but why is it that Japanese scientists (presuming that this guy is an average example thereof) are so much cooler looking than our scientists? I mean, I get the impression that if you go to a robot club meeting here in the U.S. of A, you're not going to see any svelte, black clad anglo men with flowing hair like that. Maybe we need a special nerd episode of What Not To Wear so we can all get some fashion tips.

    More seriously, can any Japanese Slashdotter (or anyone familiar with Japan) tell me if they have a nerdy professer stereotype in their mainstream culture? I know they dig robots and all, but what is the general attitude towards scientists?

    --
    "Trust in haste. Repent at leisure"
  48. Re:And... by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 4, Funny

    "She" doesn't need to stand...

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  49. Re:Only if.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    You don't get arrested for disposing of a robot in the dumpster.

  50. Re:I knew someone would bring this up by arbitraryaardvark · · Score: 2, Funny

    http://worldofwonder.net/archives/2005/Jul/26/snap _cap.wow
    via boing-boing, pic of lolibots awaiting shipping.