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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."
Don't worry. Before long Melanie Griffith will come along and show us the advantages and importance of a human companion.
And you wonder why their population is going down...
(No, I don't know what the population growth of japan is.)
Honestly, that is where this will probably lead. No one really would care about making something that realistic with fluttering eyes, etc. if it was only going to be used as for example, a service robot.
look, it's all about the wang. Deal with it. If the funds for developing AI and robotics come from pr0n venture capitalists so be it. Lets have the seks first and wonder about useful applications later. It's the way of the internet, vcr and dvds.
___
No power in the 'verse can stop me
Most geeks won't be able to afford the latest model android GF, and will have to wait until the price goes down. Until then they can extend the life of their current bio-girl with silicone upgrades.
Seriously, I think it would be really interesting if the future android market followed along the lines of the PC market.
A few big name corporations that provide cheap models designed to be appealing to a broad range of people.
Those with technical skills will buy the parts online and learn to train the AI on their own. More work, but the quality of the parts are superior. The androids last much longer because their owner knows them inside and out, and can upgrade/replace parts as needed.
It would be kind of creepy to get a metal skeleton in the mail though. And you know that one guy who has 7 PCs? You walk into their apartment and it's like a gathering of bikini models in various stages of dysfunction.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
'fraid so. But look at the bright side: your guy-friends will really be your friends and not just, you know, trying to get into your panties. A whole new era of spiritually satisfying platonic relationships is about to begin!
;)
...
Upside for men: Women won't control the hot hot seks anymore, like they've done for thousands of years. Will make for more stable relationships of equals
Hookers though, well, it's really gonna be tough for them
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No power in the 'verse can stop me
You're kidding, right? Even inanimate objects find me repulsive.
-Stephen
"More importantly, we have found that people forget she is an android while interacting with her. Consciously, it is easy to see that she is an android, but unconsciously, we react to the android as if she were a woman."
So, regardless of the old research into the Uncanny Valley, we have here some fellows who have made such a robot. It doesn't really look human, but it's very, very close. It should be smack in the middle of the valley, but look! People forget it's a robot and start interacting with it as if it were a person.
This has always seemed more likely to me. We don't respond to monkeys as if they were repulsive. We adore them. Monkeys are very cute.
I think maybe the issue with the uncanny valley is that if certain specific things are wrong, the simalucrum looks like it's an individual with a disease. Many computer animations of human faces look like people with some sort of brain damage. The animators try to push the puppets harder than pupptery will accept.
This is often because the animator is trying to push the entire illusion of lipsync and emotion through facial expressions. In life, people don't really move their lips all that much. A good animator knows to keep the body moving so that the face doesn't have to do all the acting. A bad animator works out the lipsync and sticks it on a relatively still model, then starts overdriving it when it isn't convincing.
Puppets can be startingly human without being repulsive to more than a small portion of the population. Granted, there are people with an irrational fear of marionettes, but there are people who are afraid of balloons too.
In the end, the issues involved are so subtle, I'm more ready to blame the artistry of Mori's robots for having been repulsive than accept the idea that models which are similar to humans, but not quite there, are *inherently* repusive.
Concluding that his research proves the existence of the uncanny valley is rather like looking at the response to Anime fanart and concluding that the more stylized a representation is, the more horrible it is. In point of fact, most fanartists just aren't very good. I think Mori's research just shows there weren't any good Robotic Face Designers yet.
You know, it's not like robots are so unique...
I was told by some head hunters when they were training for how to do sucessful job interviews that studies have shown that women who are very attractive are sometimes discriminated *against* by people. That is one of the reasons that they will tell people to dress well, but on the conservative side for job interviews.
Maybe it has to do with people not wanting to create the perception that they hired someone because they were attracted to them? Or, it could be that they are trying to repress their own feelings, or whatever.
Likewise, in some cases, if you had a beautiful female robot, some people would perhaps be repulsed because they would be trying to deny their feelings of attraction.
Finally, I bet there are some people out thier are repulsed by homosexuals as a way to repress their own feelings.
This doesn't imply that there should not be pretty women, homosexuals, or realistic robots. It just means that people have feelings for complicated reasons.
But, in any case, kids these days will hardly bat an eyelash at an android. It's really only people in certain psychographic groups that would be uncomfortable. Remember when you were afraid to turn on the computer for fear of breaking it? Well, there are still people like that in the world. But, there are a whole lot more people who aren't like that then ever before. And those people like the thought of a realistic robot.
Randy.Flood@RHCE2B.COM