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Company Unveils Personalized Anime Robot Girl

Posted by samzenpus on from the I'm-so-very-lonely dept.

MrSeb writes "It seems, as a culture, we have a deep-seated interest in robots and automatons, and if we can love an animal or other non-humanoid creature, what's to stop us from falling in love with a robot? Introducing Meka Robotics' S2 Humanoid Head: It has seven degrees of freedom, high-resolution FireWire cameras in each eye, zero-backlash Harmonic Drive gearing in the neck, and a ton of unnervingly-human movements and postures. She weighs 7.6kg (16.7lbs), has a pair of luminous, waggling doggy-like ears, and can be attached to a Meka torso and arm, if you prefer your robots to be slightly more corporeal. The girly, anime face is just a custom skin, incidentally: Meka will customize the shell to look like anything you desire. We're told that they value their client's confidentiality — and more importantly they don't judge. Powered by the open-source and extensible M3 control software, the S2 head (and body and arm) could be quite easily upgraded to use Hooman Samani's artificial endocrine and psychological models — and if you had the choice of falling in love with an amorphous, decidedly odd-looking furball, or a cute, perky anime girl, which would you choose?"

14 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. Love by TechLA · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously, what's the fun with seeking love in an robot.. It's not like finding a lovely girl/guy is that hard. Much of the love comes from the fact he or she is a thinking person with own thoughts, and doesn't always just do or say what you want to. And if you're just looking for sex, just get an one night stand or a paid girl.

    1. Re:Love by TechLA · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So then just suck it up and do it regardless. That's the only way to get out of that awkwardness and anti-sociality. Actually you improve quite fast if it just happens. I used to be kind of socially awkward while teen, but then some girl got a crush on me and hanged on even though it was awkward at times. It's the only way you learn, and robot isn't going to help you with that, but only a real person.

    2. Re:Love by Geeky · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You pay her. You see her quite regularly. You sort of become friends but deep down you know she's telling you what you want to hear to keep you happy - all part of the customer service. Then she says she's given up working but will still see you - you're a gray area. Since there was no need for her to say that, you believe her. You see her more often. You fall in love. You ask her out. She says she doesn't want to complicate things while money's involved but she's looking for a normal office job. You suspect she's still working. Although you only see her once every couple of weeks you hear from her every couple of days and get insecure if you don't. Half of you wants to know the truth - is it just what it is, or is there something real there? You dream of a future together but she's probably laughing at you behind your back and all the way to the bank while continuing to provide service as usual to anyone who's got the cash.

      So, in summary, go easy on the paid girls.

      (true story, by the way. happened to a, er, friend)

      --
      Sigs are so 1990s. No way would I be seen dead with one.
    3. Re:Love by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What if you are so socially fucked up that even paid girls interpret the awkwardness as being a narc?

      Learn to play a musical instrument.

      If I hadn't been a musician playing in a band that performed at dances and parties when I was in high school, I never would have had a single date. That's how awkward I was. When I got old enough to start playing in bars, I was able to actually have sex with other human beings. The music (and, let's be honest, the alcohol) provided sufficient social lubricant that I was able to overcome the friction of my own personality. It gave me enough confidence that later in life when the girl of my dreams got on the #8 Halsted Street bus at Webster, I was able to summon the courage to talk to her and right now at 6:04am she's laying in the bed I just woke from, as she has been for the past 21 years. Of course, rigor mortis has made her a little less flexible, but still. (that last is a joke)

      I don't know if things have changed in a generation, and maybe it's different with all the rapping and the hippity-hop music where they holler over two records playing at the same time, but if I could give one piece of advice to the lovelorn geek it would be this: Learn to play an instrument. I don't care if it's a harmonica or accordion or even a ukulele. Learn 5 songs, at least one that has the word "love" in it somewhere (that seems to have special meaning for females). Even if you don't get good enough to play in bars, there's something about the act of making music that has the seemingly magical effect of making interacting easier with that obscure object of desire of whichever gender you prefer.

      Oh, and take a shower once in a while for chrissake. It's starting to smell like ass in this comments section.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    4. Re:Love by xmousex · · Score: 5, Insightful

      For me the social awkward anti-social thing was over with when high school started, and i have had my fun and a few marriages.

      Now I'm in that age range where the girls I find interesting have plenty of other younger guys to go home with for the night. And the women who are my age or older and at the bars looking are.... eh.... not interesting. Those women are still looking at the world like its the 80s, they think facebook IS the internet, and physically most of them have lost what they used to have. And a one nighter means dodging the husband and kids.

      Escorting is no easy out either. Law enforcement has raided and shut down most of the local boards I liked. And regardless of how much you pay there is no force on earth that will spare you the inevitable drama most females bring with them. It is very hard to find a paid girl who is actually interested in pleasing and not in a hurry to move along. And the price alone does add up to the point where some other investment starts to make sense.

      But all that aside, having a relationship requires you give a damn. I strictly do not. I have been down that long road twice and when it comes to all the goals and directions I have to pursue in life, sitting around and listening to someone elses noise, and watching their tv shows, and adding their laundry into the pile, just doesn't fit my life.

      This robot thing in the video is about useless, but the direction it suggests is a nice idea. Someday I will be older and floppier and these machines will grow more enticing. And there is a power button. !!!

      And the best part. I actually KNOW their language.

    5. Re:Love by Muad'Dave · · Score: 5, Funny

      And the best part. I actually KNOW their language.

      You speak the binary language of moisture vaporators?

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
  2. No Mouth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Where do I put my penis then?

  3. Women have it hard in the future by goose-incarnated · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seriously, they do

    The feminist activists convinced women that they can act just as men do, resulting in this free-sex utopia. I think it was Freakonomics that pointed out that the price of sex has dropped since the 30's. Prostitutes used to cost more than the median monthly wage, now they cost the price of a meal - so if you're single and horny, which would you rather do - go on a first date and *maybe* get laid by the second date or simply pay the price of that meal and get laid?

    Of course, men pursue sex - that's how we are built - and in the past we needed to commit to a woman to get assured of sex on a regular basis. Now with feminists making the argument that society won't judge women who are promiscuous, some women believe them, lowering the value of women in general. If I'm looking for a long-term relationship, I expect Mary to put out by the third date or so, and if she doesn't, I'll find my long-term relationship with Susan, who *will* put out.

    Just for sex, though, even porn causes a drop in the value of women; whats going to happen when VR means that you can have a virtual g/friend for sex? That's an even further drop.

    Yes, of course there will be men who still want a real women, but you cannot escape the fact that demand is dropping.

    --
    I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
    1. Re:Women have it hard in the future by Asic+Eng · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well the price of sex sinking is certainly a good thing, it means both men and women have more of it. Also while I find the "feminism = free sex" claim more than dubious (that's really not how it happened historically) - feminist would likely argue that women should not be valued as providers of sex, but for their skills and accomplishments. It's true though that this can be bad news for those women who have neither.

      Women have more options today - they don't need to get married in order to have an income, they can pursue their own careers and their own goals in life. So while demand from men for marriage has dropped, the same applies for women, too.

      Now neither men nor women are forced to have a relationship or enter marriage in order to have an income or to get sex. That changes many things and that's not necessarily easy. Overall it's good to have freedom to chose, though.

    2. Re:Women have it hard in the future by dkleinsc · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If I'm looking for a long-term relationship, I expect Mary to put out by the third date or so, and if she doesn't, I'll find my long-term relationship with Susan, who *will* put out.

      Or, you know, I might realize that in any successful long-term relationship, there's a lot of factors that matter more than how quickly I can get my partner into bed. For instance, do I enjoy spending time with Mary? Do we have some common interests? Do we have good and meaningful conversations? Can we figure out a way of working when work needs to get done? If this relationship really does well, and we end up hitched for the rest of our lives, we're going to spend far more time dealing with that stuff than whether Mary put out on the third date.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    3. Re:Women have it hard in the future by sgt+scrub · · Score: 3, Funny

      While you present a strong and coherent argument you leave out two very important facts. Who is this Susan? How do I get her number?

      --
      Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
  4. Re:Love - Obligitory by EnempE · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's not like finding a lovely girl/guy is that hard.

    You're new here aren't you :-)

  5. Re:This... by vadim_t · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why, I think it's awesome.

    We'll probably have good humanoid robots before we have human-like intelligence. But that's okay, because you still can use the bot for telepresence. Think about being able to have a walk in a park, or help in some physical way a friend who is on the other side of the planet.

    With a good enough bot and control system it could be completely revolutionary. Lots and lots of applications: making things easier for old and handicapped people, virtually visiting remote and hard to access locations, remote customer service where an operator connects to a local bot...

    I'm quite happy to see people contribute to the development of such things

  6. Re:This... by vadim_t · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No, I see a glorified sex doll funding interesting research. I just don't particularly mind the sex doll part. Not my thing, but hey, I have plenty weird interests of my own.

    Besides lots of awesome tech is first adopted in silly toys for ridiculously rich people with nothing better to do. Then the tech gets cheaper and benefits everybody.