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Android Copy of Danish Man Unveiled

An anonymous reader writes "The Geminoid family, a series of ultra-realistic androids, each a copy of a real person, has a new member: Geminoid DK, a robot clone of a Danish researcher and the most realistic Geminoid yet. The robot has lifelike facial features and movements, blinking, smiling, frowning with incredible realism. The Danish researcher, Henrik Scharfe of Aalborg University, teamed up with Japanese animatronics firm Kokoro and roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro to create his robot twin, which he plans to use to study human-robot interaction and cultural differences in the perception of robots. This is the first Geminoid that is not based on a Japanese person; it's also the first bearded one."

147 comments

  1. Can you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    f**k it?

    1. Re:Can you... by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ah yes. Japanese and Danes. The most expressive people on planet earth.

      When they make an Italian, wake me up.

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
    2. Re:Can you... by mug+funky · · Score: 1

      i imagine bigger movements would be easier to model, not harder.

      that's why there's more good theatre actors than film actors. when you're right up close, the slightest movement can give it away.

    3. Re:Can you... by nanospook · · Score: 1

      HAHAHAHA!! Oh sorry :)

      --
      Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
    4. Re:Can you... by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Bah! Only when they make a copy of the most perfect being Alyson Hannigan will their skills be proven!

      BTW Japanese and Danish researchers, when you have proven your skills to replicate perfection.....I'd like a Season Two Willow with the "Vamp Willow" outfit? And I'll pay extra if you can program it to wake me with the "What's my name bitch?" routine, just the way to get a body going, along with having it have steaks ready when I get home. Thanks and let me know what you need for a deposit.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    5. Re:Can you... by camperslo · · Score: 1

      You laugh now, but some are seriously looking at where robotics might go.
      Perhaps those talented Cal Poly students will soon be giving life to more than New Years' day parade floats?

      http://www.calpolynews.calpoly.edu/news_releases/2011/February/robots.html

      Kinda gives a new angle to the notion of robotic overlords....

      Some fear robots becoming self-aware, but them being used against us by other humans might come first.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf0jlzVCyOI

    6. Re:Can you... by Walt+Dismal · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, the CIA is ahead of these researchers, having fielded the Osama Bin Laden robotic duplicate years ago. To see how realistic it is, watch any purported Al Qaeda videotape.

    7. Re:Can you... by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      And does it shoot lasers from its eyes?

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    8. Re:Can you... by NoSig · · Score: 1

      This is what Slashdot gets for posting stories with a link to a troll how-to in the summary.

    9. Re:Can you... by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      They'll make an italian-bot when they need something to surrender to the viking-bots and samurai-bots.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    10. Re:Can you... by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 1

      Or to invent the renaissance.

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
    11. Re:Can you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bah! Only when they make a copy of the most perfect being Alyson Hannigan will their skills be proven!

      She's a rather homely looking girl and her razor thin upper lip has always bothered me. Definitely a bag job.

    12. Re:Can you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or to kill our Savior-bot

    13. Re:Can you... by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 1

      You know that was the tribe. Not the Ayetyes.

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
    14. Re:Can you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course... Just like a small town USA lynching. That's why we need the feds... to keep the locals (locos) in line.. If anything, the Romans delayed the execution for a brief period.. but they really didn't give a shit either way. Whatever keeps the peace...

  2. realistic looking by Sir_Lewk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I was at first shocked at how realistic this was, but then I realized that I probably was thinking that because they didn't model as a young Japanese woman with perfect skin. Seriously, there are so many robot heads modelled that way, real young Japanese women are almost starting to seem robotic.

    --
    "linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
    1. Re:realistic looking by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

      Some of the manufacturing shots are pretty disturbing, though.

      this one, for instance feeds exclusively on human fear...

    2. Re:realistic looking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well... As a guy, I'm waiting for the young Japanese female robot with working pussy and mouth...

    3. Re:realistic looking by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well... As a guy, I'm waiting for the young Japanese female robot with working pussy and mouth...

      And as a Slashdotter, you're probably also waiting for it to come with realistic fur and a tail.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    4. Re:realistic looking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And as a /b/tard, he's probably waiting for it to come in child sizes.

    5. Re:realistic looking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well... As a guy, I'm waiting for the young Japanese female robot with working pussy and mouth...

      OK

    6. Re:realistic looking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I show my girlfriends bukkake videos and tell them those girls are over 50 as proof as to the miracle properties of taking a facial.

    7. Re:realistic looking by v1 · · Score: 2

      I was also extremely impressed. Until you see some of the jerky movements a bit into the demo, there's no way you'd think it wasn't real. Realisting looking hair. Even the teeth are naturally a little uneven. None of that "final fantasy plastic skin" CGI look at all. The skin and hair look great.

      I don't understand why it's taken this long to figure out those basic concepts. Maybe they were getting a lot of "I don't know, it just doesn't look REAL" from people, but I know if they'd have asked ME I'd have told them immediately several issues they needed to fix. And this seems to address most of them. Right now the jerky major movements are the biggest issue.

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    8. Re:realistic looking by fast+turtle · · Score: 1

      Nope. I'd rather have it with pointed ears and black hair. Either Lt. Savik or 7of9 though I wouldn't turn down a Xena version if given to me.

      --
      Mod me up/Mod me down: I wont frown as I've no crown
    9. Re:realistic looking by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 1

      I might suggest considering this viewpoint: producing someone with perfect skin is more of a challenge, and efforts like Geminoid DK mask those issues with flaws. If you stare at all of the stills on that page for long enough, you'll still see the slight unnaturalness of the android. Particularly of point is the translucence of the skin: check out the effect shown off in this link. In several of the head-on shots of the android, it looks like he's being lit from behind in a similar manner, even though the rest of the scene isn't lit in such a way as to permit that. There are still objective defects; it's not merely a matter of setting the bar lower for the design.

      But I'll certainly agree with you: that's damn minor, and everything else is fantastically indistinguishable, except the way the head rattles slightly after a sudden movement.

      --
      Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
    10. Re:realistic looking by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 1

      He said Japanese. Try CandyGirls.

      (Ah, google, is there anything you can't find?)

      --
      Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
    11. Re:realistic looking by gl4ss · · Score: 2

      realistic looking is just a trick of the eye for few seconds.

      but it's easy. I mean, it's just an artisan straightforward job to make it look "real", it's not even a triumph if they manage it - except if they plan a career in special effects. the article could be renamed "boring danish geezer orders an animatronic from a japanese company with his face with public danish funds".

      the rest of it, making it act like a man when nobody knows how a man should act is quite different. it can frown now, but it's just a clockwork animation, my sock puppet can laugh too.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    12. Re:realistic looking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can thank the movie "West World". It's like the 3 mile island of robotics.

    13. Re:realistic looking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The eyes are the undead definition of lifelessness. Some shots are great and even some expressions,but the eyes are the biggest problem. Jerky movements might be attributed to some mental or physical problem. The eyes need lubrication and lots of work to look really life-like.
      But even if they sort that out what's the need for these robots? If they could build all the computers and energy sources needed into a single body they'd make great sex toys for the rich and maybe even a good replacement for Hollywood stars, but as of now they are expensive and useless and not really innovating. They might get some unclaimed Guiness records, but they suck.

    14. Re:realistic looking by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      Movement aside, the biggest appearance issue is the eyes. The irises look wrong, probably because they're just paint on the surface of the eyeball. If they want to make them look more real, put the irises behind a lens of very slightly tinted glass, more like the structure of a real human eyeball. That would make a big difference.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    15. Re:realistic looking by v1 · · Score: 1

      I also noticed the eyes were a little unnatural. But I also noticed they were a great improvement from the usual. They had a very high gloss look to them, almost wet looking. Usually the eyes look very dry. These to me almost looked TOO glossy.

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    16. Re:realistic looking by arisvega · · Score: 1

      It is as realistic looking as a duplicate made out of wax.

      Seriously, it can only fool you for a few moments, and only if it's sitting down- it changes expressions as realistically as Jim Carey does.

      --
      The three laws of thermodynamics:(1) You can't win. (2) You can't break even. (3) You can't even quit.
    17. Re:realistic looking by gad_zuki! · · Score: 1

      Not to mention prior art. This Phillip K. Dick robot is both bearded and non-Japanese:

      http://chicagoist.com/2005/06/24/now_seriously_android_do_you_dream_of_electric_sheep.php

    18. Re:realistic looking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder when android artists will enter their impressionist and modern phases. I think if I saw android versions of some Picasso portraits, I'd probably run. And eventually we'll have robotic cans of soup.

    19. Re:realistic looking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but doesn't EVERYTHING start out as sex toys for the rich? The internal combustion engine, clockwork, horses, the wheel...

  3. Confusing title by zill · · Score: 5, Funny

    Android Copy of Danish Man Unveiled

    OK, who else thought "Danish Man" was the name of game that's being ported to Android?

    1. Re:Confusing title by Haedrian · · Score: 1

      I'll wait for the iOS port thank you very much.

      Thank you, I'll be here all week.

    2. Re:Confusing title by camperdave · · Score: 1

      Android Copy of Danish Man Unveiled

      OK, who else thought "Danish Man" was the name of game that's being ported to Android?

      I thought some Danish man's Android phone data had been leaked.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    3. Re:Confusing title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I assumed Danish Man was one of the increasingly bizarre titles for the latest version of Android.

    4. Re:Confusing title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I assumed Danish Man was one of the increasingly bizarre titles for the latest version of Android.

      It was either that or sticky bun.

    5. Re:Confusing title by WilCompute · · Score: 1

      Playbook only.

      --
      NDxTreme Content on the Edge.
    6. Re:Confusing title by Culture20 · · Score: 1

      OK, who else thought "Danish Man" was the name of game that's being ported to Android?

      *Meekly raises hand*

    7. Re:Confusing title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well I'm pretty hungry so I thought that it was a pastry game coming out for android.

    8. Re:Confusing title by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 4, Funny

      Android Copy of Danish Man Unveiled

      OK, who else thought "Danish Man" was the name of game that's being ported to Android?

      Not me, but frankly we're more likely to see androids being built than popular games being ported to Android.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    9. Re:Confusing title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a great game. You work at a cooperative and low-key chair manufacturing company, receive socialized medicine, and live a quiet and blameless existence.

    10. Re:Confusing title by wierd_w · · Score: 2

      The adventures of Danish Man and Bun Boy, in "The sticky sweetness of the uncanny valley!" Coming to an Android platform near you!

    11. Re:Confusing title by Fysx · · Score: 0

      Android Copy of Danish Man Unveiled

      OK, who else thought "Danish Man" was the name of game that's being ported to Android?

      I dunno, I was thinking a guy who eats Danishes as a game. :)

    12. Re:Confusing title by Gaygirlie · · Score: 1

      I actually thought "The Danish Man" was a name for some book that is somehow so important that I should have heard of it. Apparently not.

    13. Re:Confusing title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought it was a going to be a story about a Danish translation of Android's man pages.

    14. Re:Confusing title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Totally. And then I started wondering about the gameplay of 'Danish Man' and got the jibblies.

    15. Re:Confusing title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > I assumed Danish Man was one of the increasingly bizarre titles for the latest version of Android.

      2 Cupcakes, 1 Danish Man.

    16. Re:Confusing title by pandrijeczko · · Score: 1

      It'll be coming to an overnight queue outside your nearest Apple Store in the very near future.

      --
      Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
    17. Re:Confusing title by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      No, no. Sticky buns is what you get after using Windows Phone 7.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    18. Re:Confusing title by vegiVamp · · Score: 1

      Alright, this settles it. We need a +1, Disturbing mod.

      --
      What a depressingly stupid machine.
    19. Re:Confusing title by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Android Copy of Danish Man Unveiled

      OK, who else thought "Danish Man" was the name of game that's being ported to Android?

      I thought slashdot had decided to go all out as a gay pron site.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    20. Re:Confusing title by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      I didn't think that. I thought it was a problem "apt-get install man-pages-da" could solve

  4. can you download the app in the official market? by youn · · Score: 2

    am I the only one who thought it was more news about google's smarphone/tablet platform? :)

    androids are cool... but definitely fooled me for half a second

    --
    Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that :p
  5. FYI:Geminoid by camperdave · · Score: 2

    Just an FYI folks: "Geminoid" is a registered trademark of Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    1. Re:FYI:Geminoid by buchner.johannes · · Score: 1

      Some related wikipedia pages:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actroid
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanoid_robot

      Be honest, do you think this guy was created to play ping pong or to crush people?

      --
      NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
    2. Re:FYI:Geminoid by filthpickle · · Score: 1

      I'm gonna have to go with crush people. That thing looks scary as hell.
      Although, I think I would rather have them look blatanty machine like....I don't even like it when the U-Scan speaks to me at the Grocery. I hate how it says hello after you scan your shoppers card. You are not happy to see me machine...

  6. But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The shark still looks fake.

  7. Nope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    That's no android.

    1. Re:Nope by Canazza · · Score: 1

      It's only a matter of time before someone mistakes him for the android and shoots one thinking it's the other starting a chain of events that lead to humans spreading from Earth and colonising the galaxy.

      --
      It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
  8. Been there done that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So the researchers are catching up with what Hollywood has been doing for years. The Japanese ones always seemed so lame compared to what we've been doing in Hollywood for many years. This latest one of the Danish man is much better but the beard still looks like hair plugs. They could have saved years of effort just taking a trip to tinsel town. Even the facial expressions are still not up to current film technology.

    1. Re:Been there done that by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      So the researchers are catching up with what Hollywood has been doing for years.

      Hollywood has not been building automated puppets for years. Go pick up a book called The Stan Winston Effect and see for yourself. If you're feeling especially interested in reseaching this, go look up what it takes to become a 'puppeteer'.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  9. !ultra by Troll-Under-D'Bridge · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The Geminoid family, a series of ultra-realistic androids, each a copy of a real person, has a new member

    A bit realistic perhaps, but definitely not ultra. I've bothered to actually watch the fine video, and the movements are still on the near side of the creepy valley. As for its classification as an android, really, it's not even a talking head, just little more than an animated wax dummy, able to blink and sigh but incapable of a decent conversation. The main use I see for this is in big budget Hollywood movies where you have to blow up your star actor. But CG can service that department fairly well already.

    1. Re:!ultra by digitalhermit · · Score: 1

      I can see other uses in the far future. Many people prefer to interact with humanoid devices. Whether it's an animated cartoon or an automaton, *some* people are more comfortable speaking to a face, even if it's a robot, than typing commands or talking into a machine. Obviously it's too expensive to put interactive robots into traditional human positions, but the things the researchers learn can help how other technology is designed. Maybe people expect a certain eye movement when someone asks a question. Maybe we can perceive blink rate and associate that with understanding or listening. Maybe we trust people more if their eyebrows arch when they smile.. or maybe it is uncanny.

    2. Re:!ultra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      big budget Hollywood movies where you have to blow up your star actor

      if he's a Scientologist then who cares?

    3. Re:!ultra by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Funny

      big budget Hollywood movies where you have to blow up your star actor

      if he's a Scientologist then who cares?

      Perfect - A movie starring Charlie Sheen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Tom Cruise, where Cruise gets blown up. You could call it Mission:Impossible - Two and a Half Men!

    4. Re:!ultra by pavon · · Score: 1

      The video shown is just the mechanical test; exercising each type of movement individually to see if it works. The other Geminoid robots have had smoother head motion than that, so I am eager to see how this one looks when it is done.

    5. Re:!ultra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Johnny Cab?

    6. Re:!ultra by petitegeek · · Score: 1

      it's not even a talking head, just little more than an animated wax dummy, able to blink and sigh but incapable of a decent conversation.

      It *is* capable of decent conversation. The guy controlling it just needs to talk -- consider it a way better version of AnyBots or any other telepresence robot. The only thing lacking is a huge portable air compressor to lug around the office :D Oh, pneumatics.

    7. Re:!ultra by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      More like a robotic mannequin with turrets syndrome. Makes me wanna kick its ass. Perhaps they should include features of SlamMan while there at it.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    8. Re:!ultra by Hojima · · Score: 2

      I've bothered to actually watch the fine video, and the movements are still on the near side of the creepy valley.

      Saying that it's a bit creepy is like saying that Nazis are a bit anti-semitic. If I saw that thing in my room I wouldn't rest until a priest douses its ashes with holy water.

    9. Re:!ultra by VortexCortex · · Score: 1

      The Geminoid family, a series of ultra-realistic androids, each a copy of a real person, has a new member

      A bit realistic perhaps, but definitely not ultra.

      I agree, since this is a Japanese company, I'd say they've achieved S Class animatronics...( not Ultra, and certainly not over 9000! )

      The jerky movements aside (it's a rough mechanical test), once its software is fine tuned I could see something like this hooked up to something like IBM's Watson (but with opinions & emotions instead of just answers in the form of questions).

      Personally, I'm looking at the cyborg implications -- Take today's synthetic lungs, heart pumps, dialysis, and IV nutrient delivery and combine it with a thought control input device to control the robotic shell, and I'm one step closer to putting my brain in a robot body.

    10. Re:!ultra by HungryHobo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      surprisingly enough many people are almost the opposite.

      If you get too far into the uncanny vally people can be hostile but stay well back and people will relate to machines just fine, they won't relate to them as people but they'll be fine thinking of them like really smart pets/animals.

      I came across a lovely article a while back.

      http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050501009_pf.html

      People are quite ready to treat machines as they would animals, even going so far as to consider something that's happening to a bot to be inhumane.

      "The most effective way to find and destroy a land mine is to step on it.

      This has bad results, of course, if you're a human. But not so much if you're a robot and have as many legs as a centipede sticking out from your body. That's why Mark Tilden, a robotics physicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, built something like that. At the Yuma Test Grounds in Arizona, the autonomous robot, 5 feet long and modeled on a stick-insect, strutted out for a live-fire test and worked beautifully, he says. Every time it found a mine, blew it up and lost a limb, it picked itself up and readjusted to move forward on its remaining legs, continuing to clear a path through the minefield.

      Finally it was down to one leg. Still, it pulled itself forward. Tilden was ecstatic. The machine was working splendidly.

      The human in command of the exercise, however -- an Army colonel -- blew a fuse.

      The colonel ordered the test stopped.

      Why? asked Tilden. What's wrong?

      The colonel just could not stand the pathos of watching the burned, scarred and crippled machine drag itself forward on its last leg.

      This test, he charged, was inhumane. "

      It might be easier to get people to bond to a machine as they would a guidedog rather than as they would to another human.

      The veteran explosives technician looming over Bogosh was visibly upset. He insisted he did not want a new robot. He wanted Scooby-Doo back.

      "Sometimes they get a little emotional over it," Bogosh says. "Like having a pet dog. It attacks the IEDs, comes back, and attacks again. It becomes part of the team, gets a name. They get upset when anything happens to one of the team. They identify with the little robot quickly. They count on it a lot in a mission."

    11. Re:!ultra by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      so it's an ui for people who wish everything could be done by telling your slave to do it? it wouldn't be too expensive if they worked any better than a set of buttons to achieve all the things you could get the robot head to activate.

      do you know what it _really_ is? it's a dayjob for about 2000 academics around the world who'd rather study what it feels like to watch a mannequin than do real science, paid for by taxes. the same guys who think touch panels are high tech and need similar study(while totally ignoring that touchscreens etc such are used in control elements because they're a freaky lot cheaper than wiring gazillion buttons and relays). the same guys who think wearable electronics is a field of science(flexible materials, yeah, that I would count as something, but studying for 2 years what it feels like to wear a jacket that has an integrated watch is not).

      also the same jerks come up with metaphor ui's as if they were easier than a simple tick in a box. who on earth would like to manouver through an animation of making coffee to get coffee from a coffee machine? nobody. who on earth would like moving your grass feel like pushing a lawnmower even if it's actually done by a robot? well, these friggin guys.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    12. Re:!ultra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bullshit. People like animated dogs/cats... little cute furry creatures. There's one video of a robot that looks like Gizmo the gremlin. It doesn't look at all like a human... but its movements signal emotion like fear/disgust and happiness. The reaction of people to it is astonishing - they naturally try to make it smile and feel at ease - and immediately stop doing things that make it act afraid.

      This video, on the other hand, is sinister and weird - see The Uncanny Valley.

    13. Re:!ultra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Didn't get invited to all their cool parties, huh?

    14. Re:!ultra by JasterBobaMereel · · Score: 1

      The biggest problem is that when something looks human people have too high expectations of it ...

      So when it fails to act human (as it will) they are frustrated by it, and hate it, if it looks like a dog, or cartoon then they have much lower expectations which it is (just) possible to meet

      This looked to me to be a just too perfect human acting like a robot, until about halfway through the video and then it got more and more obvious it was not human

      Interacting with this is likely to be slow frustrating and pointless ...

      --
      Puteulanus fenestra mortis
    15. Re:!ultra by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      As for its classification as an android, really, it's not even a talking head, just little more than an animated wax dummy, able to blink and sigh but incapable of a decent conversation.

      I thought you said it WASN'T a realistic depiction of a man.

    16. Re:!ultra by l0ungeb0y · · Score: 1

      the first thing I though of for a "main application" was for theme-park animatronics, such as Pirates for the Caribbean.

    17. Re:!ultra by laddiebuck · · Score: 1

      it's not even a talking head, just little more than an animated wax dummy, able to blink and sigh but incapable of a decent conversation

      So at least it could be a high-school teacher then.

    18. Re:!ultra by kmoser · · Score: 1

      It can't even blink without lowering its eyebrows, too. That doesn't seem realistic at all.

  10. That's no android... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://spectrum.ieee.org/image/1803983 ...that's a younger, albeit undead, John Cleese o.O

  11. Animatronic vs. Robot by orkysoft · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This robot is really just an animatronic device, like they have at Disneyland (or so I hear). It's controlled by someone behind the scenes using a computer. The purpose is to study how people interact with it, knowing that it's not real. The interesting thing about regular robots is that they're supposed to control themselves, and research concentrates not just on designing new kinds of sensors and actuators (limbs) and body plans, but especially the software to control them.

    Still, it looks very impressive, but I'm not sure how this progresses the development of sensors, actuators, or control software. It seems more like a sophisticated crafts project to me. Are the researchers also going to have test subjects interact with a non-realistic human-shaped robot to see how they react to it, to compare with the realistic looking one?

    --

    I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
    1. Re:Animatronic vs. Robot by Troll-Under-D'Bridge · · Score: 1

      The interesting thing about regular robots is that they're supposed to control themselves

      I'm not sure what you mean by regular robot. But there are precedents for remotely controlled robots, both in science fiction and real life. E.g. the battle droids of the Trade Federation in the Star Wars prequels appear to be remote controlled:

      "These droids would blindly obey orders spoken to them by their commanders or transmitted to them from an orbital Droid Control ship. The efforts of Bravo Squadron, and Anakin Skywalker in particular, destroyed the Droid Control Ship, thereby rendering the army useless."

      The droids may have had some sensory autonomy but were largely "mindless", pretty much like a phone "app" whose data processing back end is in the cloud.

      The robonaut that was sent up to the ISS is basically a telepresence device, a telerobot if you will. And of course there are the unglamorous industrial robots that are all tools and arms.

    2. Re:Animatronic vs. Robot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the fuck is wrong with you? Aside from pointing out the obvious as explained clearly in the article, your whole premise is based around the fact that it's not the final destination, therefore it's shit.

      Small minded assholes like you should take a good look at yourselves and realize that your lack of enthusiasm is a detriment to human progress.

    3. Re:Animatronic vs. Robot by Gaygirlie · · Score: 1

      The droids may have had some sensory autonomy but were largely "mindless", pretty much like a phone "app" whose data processing back end is in the cloud.

      While irrevelevant to the article I thought to still stick my neck here: the droids still seem to process all the sensory-local data themselves, only co-ordinating with the Control ship such elements as they deem necessary. A billion droids sending all sensory data to the Control ship every millisecond would require such amounts of bandwidth that it would be completely impossible to achieve. Thus the droids are mostly in control of themselves.

      One could also argue that it's the Control ship that itself is the robot, and all the droids are only its extremities; a plausible claim considering that there is no requirement for all the parts that make up the robot to be physically connected by definition, or that the parts can't have any level of autonomy.

      Personally, I think we need clearer definitions.

    4. Re:Animatronic vs. Robot by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      I got slightly used socks they could have used. and an address to order a robotic hand that mirrors a real hand if they wish to hide the fact that it is a human controlling or not.

      but this way the so called scientist got some face-time, literally.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    5. Re:Animatronic vs. Robot by orkysoft · · Score: 1

      I'm not saying it's shit, I'm just pointing out that it's not what it looks like to the casual observer. I'm definitely not saying that they shouldn't do this, just pointing out that making it lifelike isn't actually going to make it more of a robot, but it might change how people react to it, which is exactly what they want to find out.

      Also, where do you get the idea that I have some final destination in mind? Should we even build robots that look lifelike? I don't think the details of the exterior are that important, hence my criticism.

      But speaking of the future with advanced robots, I think it would be very useful to build robots that can control themselves reliably in order to perform complicated tasks, since then we could use them for all kinds of dangerous jobs and save a lot of lives, or even to take over almost all human labor, and give almost everybody a life of leisure. But that would require a radical remodelling of the economy, or else the rich people would literally own the labor force. Bad things might happen otherwise. (The story is a bit cheesy, but does explain the kinds of things I worry about.) We'd probably need a kind of "Robo-Communism", in which the fruits of the labor of the nonsentient robots (who do all the work that doesn't strictly require a conscious mind) are shared by everyone, and not owned by the rich, which would leave the non-rich to starve without jobs.

      But thanks for calling me a small-minded asshole, I needed that.

      --

      I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
    6. Re:Animatronic vs. Robot by sorak · · Score: 1

      Are the researchers also going to have test subjects interact with a non-realistic human-shaped robot to see how they react to it, to compare with the realistic looking one?

      Exactly. That's why they should create Bender! Sure, it would have the side-effect of being awesome, and making slashdot's front page once every three weeks, but it would also promote science, or whatever that article is supposed to be about.

    7. Re:Animatronic vs. Robot by orkysoft · · Score: 1

      Yes, Bender is exactly who I had in mind. He's a real character, and has never made anyone's life easier, and you know it!

      --

      I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
  12. Not Quite Human by nmb3000 · · Score: 2

    The pictures and video are pretty interesting, but also awfully short. It would be neat to see some combined expressions rather than just simple blinking and mouth movement. Speaking of the movement in the video, was anyone else reminded of Not Quite Human? Haven't thought about that movie in quite a while :)

    Also, can anyone say "uncanny valley"? They've definitely made progress, but there's still something... not quite right about it. Considering that the easiest part of creating an android is probably the static external features such as skin, hair, and eyes (lots of practice from movie/TV makeup), it's interesting that a still photo still triggers the cues which tell us "that's not real."

    Now only a few things left to do:

    1. Create an evil twin bent death, carnage, and annihilation
    3. ???
    4. Profit! (well, that, or doom the human race)

    --
    "What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
    /)
    1. Re:Not Quite Human by osu-neko · · Score: 1

      They've definitely made progress, but there's still something... not quite right about it. Considering that the easiest part of creating an android is probably the static external features such as skin, hair, and eyes (lots of practice from movie/TV makeup), it's interesting that a still photo still triggers the cues which tell us "that's not real."

      Actually, I think he looks perfectly real, as long as it's a still shot and his mouth is closed. The movements look wrong, and the mouth looks off even in a still shot if it's open, which I'm guessing is related somehow to how they're controlling the movement -- it doesn't quite properly simulate every last facial muscle that's involved, and so even in a still shot, with the mouth open not everything's where it's supposed to be.

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
    2. Re:Not Quite Human by gman003 · · Score: 1

      I think it's the eyes. The eyes still don't quite seem "alive". Makes sense - the eyes are the most difficult thing to replicate. It certainly is in video games - the shader code for eyes alone is usually larger than all the other shaders combined.

      Honestly, though, I think if they got the movements done properly (and had a good intelligence behind the curtain, artificial or human), I would be able to converse with the thing as though it were human. It's that close. The poses themselves are convincing, it's just the changing between them that throws it all out. That might just be because it's still a demo, because they haven't figured out how to program fluid motion yet, or because of some hardware limitation - IANA robotics expert, so I wouldn't know what the case is.

    3. Re:Not Quite Human by lightknight · · Score: 1

      I'm more bothered by the eyes. I think, though I may be incorrect here, that with human eyes, they do not open at exactly the same time. They open with some independent variations of speed and timing per eye. Which isn't to say that they are far off here, only that with human eyes there is some degree of...randomness to the timings, in much the same way that you don't pronounce every word exactly the same way you did the moment before.

      --
      I am John Hurt.
    4. Re:Not Quite Human by Jeremi · · Score: 1

      The easiest Evil use for your robot twin is to have it sit calmly in a bar for an hour or two, while you commit whatever crime it is you want to commit. Presto, an airtight alibi is yours! (assuming you can get the robot into and out of the bar without anyone noticing, of course)

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    5. Re:Not Quite Human by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      I always thought the open mouth resting position was an artifact from the original purpose of these robots. It seems a lot more "natural" on uhm.. androids of young japanese woman.

    6. Re:Not Quite Human by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it's interesting that a still photo still triggers the cues which tell us "that's not real."

      Bull. Shit. I think you're letting yourself be influenced by the knowledge that it's not real. If you saw those photos without that knowledge you would think it's real because it does in fact look real.

      Even real photos of actual humans have some leeway because they sometimes look fake too simply because of lighting or whatever.

  13. Re:babys/LSI/world+dog in /. censorship 'timeout' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I see this drivel sometimes. Is it a human troll? a human schizophrenic? A chatterbot fed on conspiracy sites?

  14. Based on the Images... by abednegoyulo · · Score: 1

    from TFA, I wish he cloned her wife instead...

  15. Just saying what you're thinking. by WrongMonkey · · Score: 1

    A robot doesn't have to perfectly mimic a human to be commercially viable, just be close enough to be convincing in the dark.

    1. Re:Just saying what you're thinking. by Foobar+of+Borg · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A robot doesn't have to perfectly mimic a human to be commercially viable, just be close enough to be convincing in the dark.

      Actually, if it perfectly mimicked a human being, it wouldn't be economically viable. Imagine, after some robo-sex, the fem-bot starts asking "So, when do you want to get married?" or "Why can't we live together? There is no reason for us to pay two rents."

    2. Re:Just saying what you're thinking. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It won't be long before she's stuck in an infinite loop and he's an idiot.

  16. Why is this impressive? by orphiuchus · · Score: 1

    They basically managed to make a so-so statue of someone that can move its eyes and mouth awkwardly? Unless this thing can walk around and crack-wise I'd be way more impressed by, say, a working Johnny 5.

    1. Re:Why is this impressive? by Kenoli · · Score: 1

      My thoughts exactly. The people developing these things always seem to put far too much emphasis on the skin of the robot. It looks pretty good and all, but it may as well be a wax sculpture. It can't demonstrate any behavior that might pass as even remotely human-like.

  17. Sex with yourself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While thinking about androids for sex, I just had a horrifying thought of me having sex with myself. Now I need a drink.

    1. Re:Sex with yourself by orphiuchus · · Score: 2

      It would just be masturbation, which is perfectly natural.

    2. Re:Sex with yourself by i-linux123 · · Score: 1

      What has been imagined, cannot be imagined :0

    3. Re:Sex with yourself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well if you had a clone of yourself, had sex with it, Would it be insect or masturbation? ;)

    4. Re:Sex with yourself by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      need to have alcohol to get into the mood for yourself?

      you must be what they call a "happy hour 10", which is a "5" as seen under the influence.

  18. Re:babys/LSI/world+dog in /. censorship 'timeout' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a glitch in the matrix.

  19. Re:Only a few things lefft to do by sconeu · · Score: 1

    1. Evil twin. Been done. (OK, by someone else, not the person being "twinned").

    Did nobody else think of the "Evil Robot Us-es"?

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  20. Keanu Reeves by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hmmm. It has really limited range of expressions. The mouth is totally unconvincing. Could it pucker? Ha! I will admit that the features around the eyes move pretty nicely.

    I was trying to imagine who this technology might be able to replicate and it hit me. Keanu Reeves. He displays only slightly greater range of expressions than these weird moving mannequins do. If you could get it to do mild bemusement, mild surprise, and a stoner grin, then you'd have everything you need.

  21. Re:babys/LSI/world+dog in /. censorship 'timeout' by Skidborg · · Score: 1

    It's probably a government agent trying to subvert the cause, but failing because nobody can tell what the cause is from their inane postings.

    --
    Supporter of the +1 Over Dramatic mod option. In memory of apk.
  22. Androids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These are not the androids you are looking for.

  23. If only Asimov was alive to see this by Nimey · · Score: 1

    He's no R. Daneel Olivaw, but he certainly might /look/ like him.

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
    1. Re:If only Asimov was alive to see this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On a hunch I plugged "R. Daneel Olivaw" into an anagram generator. It says it's an anagram for "weird anal love." Hmm, let's try that again...

  24. fallout by D+rent · · Score: 1

    It looks like the father of the vault-dweller :S

  25. Obligatory HHTG by trudyscousin · · Score: 1

    "You'd just have to programme it to say What? and I don't understand and Where's the tea? Who'd know the difference?"

    That's what came to mind when I saw the Geminoid's expressions.

    --
    Those who can, do. Those who can't, write technology blogs.
  26. Okay, so it's an Android copy of a Danish Man by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    My question is - does Google control the kill switch?

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  27. Missing Tag by Khyber · · Score: 1

    Uncanny Valley.

    Except I can tell the movements are fake. However, The realism in the expressions once frozen is quite believable. They need to get some better PWM for controlling the eyelid movement and smoothing it out.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  28. I'm sorry, but.. by inAbsurdum · · Score: 1

    I, for one, welcome our new robotic overlords.

    --
    -- I am the Monkey Guru.
    1. Re:I'm sorry, but.. by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 1

      ... and cylon sextoys.

  29. Do Danish androids.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    dream of electric pastries?

  30. After watching the video by EnsilZah · · Score: 1

    I wonder, if they made one of Christopher Walken, could you tell the difference?

    1. Re:After watching the video by black3d · · Score: 1

      Hahaha! Already used up my mod points for today, sorry. :(

      --
      "The true measure of a person is how they act when they know they won't get caught." - DSRilk
    2. Re:After watching the video by Mark_in_Brazil · · Score: 1

      I wonder, if they made one of Christopher Walken, could you tell the difference?

      Yes.

      --
      "It is nice to know that the computer understands the problem. But I would like to understand it too." --Eugene Wigner
  31. Someone has to ask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can you fuck it?

    1. Re:Someone has to ask by ckeo · · Score: 1

      http://boingboing.net/2009/10/06/funktionide-hints-at.html

      "Designer Stefan Ulrich has come up with what could be an early prototype of a real body pillow girlfriend. He calls it Funktionide, an "emotional robot" that changes form depending on how you hold it. Combined with advanced robotics, this could yield something that is soft, cuddly, humanoid, and capable of intelligent conversation. Yes, and it breathes"

  32. Also available, iphone copy of Texan man by 91degrees · · Score: 1
  33. Wow. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Looks like we've arrived at the point androids no longer look like robots pretending to be human, but like humans pretending to be robot.
    Expect music videos spoofing this one in 3... 2... 1........

  34. Data upload by macraig · · Score: 2

    I think Brent Spiner should be Geminoided next. Can you imagine the convention possibilities? Trekkies everywhere will be wetting their pants.

  35. Incredible realism? by DrXym · · Score: 1

    About 2 seconds into the vid clips you can tell it's a creepy robot. I suppose some of the stills might fool you at first glance.

    1. Re:Incredible realism? by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      well, they need to do that pr... it cost a friggin lot to order it from the japanese. and I mean really, ordering it, from out-department, then receiving it and immediately firing it off to press. what kind of science is that. maybe slashdot will do lovedoll unpackings next.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  36. Roadsigns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are now leaving: Uncanny Valley

  37. Err, wrong Scandanavian type by Coisiche · · Score: 1

    They should have gone with Swedish woman android. I mean, surely they must have _some_ idea about what the technology is _actually_ going to be used for?

  38. I want one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, this would be great. I could finally sneak out to the pub at night without my wife knowing...

  39. Robot Chciken by mattwrock · · Score: 1

    Whenever I read about androids I think about this: http://video.adultswim.com/robot-chicken/robotic-longevity.html

    --
    "Ones and zeros were everywhere. I even think I saw a two!" - Bender
  40. Finally! by Dawayne409 · · Score: 1

    They made robots even creepier! Now we can cringe at their dead, soulless eyes AND their creepy 'Mom's new boyfriend' beard!

    --
    "What this country needs now is a drink." -FDR
  41. Congratulations, Google by neminem · · Score: 1

    I read the title, I clicked the link, I fully expected it to be about some weird dude in Denmark, doing some strange AI-research-related thing in an Android app. After reading the first sentence of the summary, I thought maybe it was someone running Android on their new robot? It took me *way* too long to remember that, in fact, the word "android" predates Google by rather a lot (it didn't help that the word in the title, as required, got capitalized). Great example of linguistic backtracking, though.