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Could You Fall In Love With This Robot? (cnbc.com)

Hanson Robotics and Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories are working on developing the most humanlike robots on the planet. While they may appear creepy, many roboticists believe they are key for humans and super-intelligent machines to coexist. Sophia is the most intelligent and lifelike android the team is working on. She can reply to basic questions and comments and she will even tell you when she was activated if asked. The most "creepy" element about her is the fact that she has lifelike skin crafted with patented silicon that can emulate more than 62 facial expressions. Cameras in her "eyes" work with computer algorithms that allow her to "see," track faces, make eye contact and recognize individuals. Google Chrome voice-recognition technology along with some other tools enable Sophia to process speech, talk and get smarter over time. "Our goal is that she will be as conscious, creative and capable as any human," said Hanson, CEO of Hanson Robotics. "We are designing these robots to serve in health care, therapy, education and customer service applications."

127 comments

  1. Does she run... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ...linux?

    1. Re:Does she run... by binarylarry · · Score: 5, Funny

      She run anyting you want human, 5 bitcoin.

      --
      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    2. Re:Does she run... by binarylarry · · Score: 4, Funny

      She fsck you long time.

      --
      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    3. Re:Does she run... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      Come on, there has to be at least a price advantage. Otherwise I don't see the point.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  2. Well.... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    She needs a new hair style.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  3. Is she anatomically correct? by penguinoid · · Score: 1

    Perverted^W Inquiring minds want to know.

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    1. Re:Is she anatomically correct? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      You'll be able to buy mod kits for that.

    2. Re:Is she anatomically correct? by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      ?, what's perverted about SUDO make me sandwich.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    3. Re:Is she anatomically correct? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Australia, they call them "root kits".

  4. Re: What's The Point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    More like, there are 4 billions women who will never be even remotely interested in you. I bet not even a robot would shag a nerd. :)

  5. I guess I'm not really the target demo... by bistromath007 · · Score: 1

    I mean, I'd REALLY like a sex bot, it'd massively improve my life. But I cried when Spirit kicked the bucket. So, machine empathy is already pretty well covered. >_>

    1. Re:I guess I'm not really the target demo... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      " I'd REALLY like a sex bot, it'd massively improve my life "

      I'm not sure a life can be that bad.

  6. Human presumptuousness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am a robot, you insensitive clod!

  7. Re:What's The Point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "This might be useful in replacing staff in service industries"

    Why stop there. Why not replace everyone from the working poor to the upper middle classes.

  8. Obligatory Futurama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  9. Not any human, but many by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Our goal is that she will be as conscious, creative and capable as any human

    At first I thought this sounded ridiculous and then I remembered my last walk through Wal-Mart. Certainly not any human, but many isn't as far fetched as I was originally thinking.

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    1. Re:Not any human, but many by dinfinity · · Score: 1

      You were probably going for Funny, but if you think the difference between you and those people is significant (and insurmountable) for developing AI, you are arrogantly mistaken.

      We're not as special as we think we are.

    2. Re:Not any human, but many by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder if there's any way to do a better job for conversational programming than what I've seen in chat bot code (if-then branches targeting specific word patterns). Watson was intriguing, but from what I've read, it uses so many different projects that I wouldn't know where to even start.

    3. Re:Not any human, but many by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For that the robot would have to be 300 pounds, wearing spandex or cat print, with curlers in her hair, yelling at her dozen kids.

  10. Uncanny by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    The pictures in those article are as close as anything to true evidence of an uncanny valley.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    1. Re:Uncanny by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      I don't see the point. Other than that Japan is a seriously humanoid robot obsessed country that should get back on their meds. A robot should do work, making it as human-like as possible is just not very useful and slows down robotic research. These are just better grades of mannequins.

    2. Re:Uncanny by ceoyoyo · · Score: 2

      Japan has an aging population. They want humanoid robots to take care of the old people and make them feel loved while all the working age people are at work trying to pay for it all.

    3. Re:Uncanny by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      There are some niches where a humanoid form brings an advantage. Face excepted, it's a good shape in any building - stairs, lifts, doors, hallways etc are all designed for human occupation, so a robot with the same shape would be able to get around easily without needing to replace all the stairs with dalek-friendly ramps.

    4. Re:Uncanny by Rei · · Score: 0

      Okay... now I can't get the image out of my head of a helper robot that looks like the one in the video, being all nice and helpful and smiling, but the only word she knows is "exterminate".

      --
      Hourglass says she knows a kid in Iowa who grows up to be president.
    5. Re:Uncanny by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      No problem, maybe her job is to kill pests.

    6. Re:Uncanny by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      If the work is sex work, making it as human-like as possible is very useful. If it's any sort of work such that it needs to not be obtrusive around humans, making it look human is useful.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  11. Our motto by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Our goal is that she will be as conscious, creative and capable as any human," said Hanson, CEO of Hanson Robotics.

    "More human than human" is our motto.

  12. It all boils down to... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sex & Laundry

    Anything more is just a bonus, anything less is unacceptable.

    1. Re:It all boils down to... by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      I'll buy when the feature list is...
       
      ...
      o cleans the cat box
      ...

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  13. Re:Can she fuck? by mrclevesque · · Score: 1

    "That is all a guy cares about in a woman. Anyone who says otherwise is lying"

    Anyone who says that is stupid.

  14. Re:What's The Point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Give it time; it'll happen

  15. Re:Can she fuck? by mrclevesque · · Score: 1

    Oups, wrong story.

  16. Safer AI? by penguinoid · · Score: 1

    "That can really help to prevent some of the disconnect and possible dangers of developing superintelligent or human-level machines that don't care," he said.

    Nope.

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
  17. Better a robot than a Kardashian by Jahmbo · · Score: 2

    As long as the robot is more conscious, more capable and more creative than that tribe of genetic sludge I am all for robotics.

  18. No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But I could fake it to get her in the sack.

  19. Re:What's The Point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It will happen. In the end, there will be no-one left but the One Percenters. Humankind will comprise of only them, the .01% richest people and their entourage, which will oversee the machines and reduced infrastructure to support their post-scarcity lifestyle. For the rest of us, the mass graves await. There is no possible other way! The utopian future cannot happen unless we, the have-not and have-few, disappear! Only the One Percenters can make it happen. Think of it! The Paris Hiltons of this world will enjoy a carefree life of abundance in a pristine world, while the rest of us rot at the bottom of a mechanically-dug trench!

  20. Customer Service by spauldo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You want to replace factory workers with robots? Sure, sounds great. It's worked well for the automotive industry, among others.

    You want to replace the secretary pool and filing clerks with computers? Already happened, worked out just fine.

    Simple tasks, such as replacing the greasy dude behind the counter at the local burger joint with a touchscreen ordering system? OK, I can see the use in that.

    But stop replacing customer service positions with computers. People know how to interact with people. When we get a "friendly AI" on the phone, it's usually an exercise in frustration. It won't fair any better in meatspace. If I wanted my bank teller to be a robot, I'd just use the #**$ing ATM.

    --
    Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
    1. Re:Customer Service by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      If I wanted my bank teller to be a robot, I'd just use the #**$ing ATM.

      You're lucky, the ATMs here only allow us to deposit or withdraw cash, pay invoices, etc. You're lucky to have ATMs that can also fuck. How did they solve the hygiene and privacy problems?

    2. Re:Customer Service by spauldo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not all ATMs have the service, and the service isn't available all the time.

      Just look for the ATMs near the scantily clad loiterers at night. Use the ATM to withdraw cash, then hand it to the woman in the corset and fishnet stockings standing nearby. The better ones are self-cleaning and offer better privacy than the alley around the corner.

      --
      Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
    3. Re:Customer Service by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      But stop replacing customer service positions with computers. People know how to interact with people. When we get a "friendly AI" on the phone, it's usually an exercise in frustration. It won't fair any better in meatspace.

      That's what people want, but how much are they willing to pay for it? The reason customer service is so bad is because people aren't willing to pay for it.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    4. Re:Customer Service by slashping · · Score: 1

      The reason customer service is so bad is because people aren't willing to pay for it.

      That's because there's often no clear choice to make. It's not like companies will tell you what kind of lousy customer service you'll get.

    5. Re:Customer Service by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      If people started moving away from companies with bad customer service, then they would start to change.

      The reality is, for me, I'm usually not willing to pay extra for customer service because it's worth suffering once every few years (I rarely call customer support) in exchange for paying less money.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    6. Re:Customer Service by seven+of+five · · Score: 1

      Of course, it's better to have a real person at the other end of the line, or in the service window. But the experiences like ATT's robot tech-support answering service will become more the norm -- usually irritating, annoying, and frustrating, but "good enough" .. and far cheaper than hiring people for the job. Shareholder value trumps customer service and employee morale.

    7. Re:Customer Service by Kjella · · Score: 2

      But stop replacing customer service positions with computers. People know how to interact with people. When we get a "friendly AI" on the phone, it's usually an exercise in frustration. It won't fair any better in meatspace. If I wanted my bank teller to be a robot, I'd just use the #**$ing ATM.

      I'm guessing you're somewhat like me, when you contact customer support it's because the answer isn't on the screen. There's no such option in the menus and the FAQ doesn't list the answer to your question. Roughly 99,9% of the time when I call customer service, I need an actual live person. But if you've ever worked first line help desk, the unfiltered common sense of the general public you'll know we're a rare breed. I've kinda accepted that the companies I deal with need to have an idiot filter to keep support costs down. If they're reliable and deliver as promised that is, the best customer service I get is the one where I don't have to call customer service much at all. That's really why I put up with it, if I had to call them regularly I wouldn't want do to business with them no matter how much they kissed ass.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    8. Re:Customer Service by Zanadou · · Score: 1

      Simple tasks, such as replacing the greasy dude behind the counter at the local burger joint with a touchscreen ordering system? OK, I can see the use in that.

      http://www.businessinsider.com...

    9. Re:Customer Service by egladil · · Score: 1

      We've had this in Sweden for a few years now. It's fantastic :)
      (Not at McDonalds though, but a Swedish chain named Max which also happen to server way better burgers imo)

      Image: http://d14xf0em16qfin.cloudfro...

    10. Re:Customer Service by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      That's why I like email for support. The support people can copy/paste standard responses for common issues, and when I ask something specific I get a detailed written answer that I can refer back to later. Spideroak does support that way and it's excellent, one of the best I've ever seen from a company.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    11. Re:Customer Service by spauldo · · Score: 1

      It's not about the public being willing to pay for it. The public doesn't get the choice.

      Eliminating customer service personnel is a cost cutting measure. That's the real reason why banks are generally closing branch offices and pushing online banking. That's also why you either get a robot or some person with an indecipherable hindi accent when you call tech support. Do they ask the customers if they're willing to pay extra for these things? Generally, no.

      It's not about customer choice, it's about economics.

      I'm fully aware my plea for retaining human customer service personnel will remain unheeded. I just think it sucks.

      --
      Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
    12. Re:Customer Service by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Do they ask the customers if they're willing to pay extra for these things? Generally, no.

      Sometimes they do, yes. Haven't you ever heard of a customer satisfaction survey?
      When a company cuts costs by reducing customer service quality, and you don't quit their service, then you just voted with your wallet. Of course, you're not the only 'voter,' and in general Americans are not willing to pay for better customer service.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    13. Re:Customer Service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Many people don't know how to interact with people. Even more people would prefer not to interact with people for things that don't require human emotions or understanding. I am pretty high-functioning, but it still stresses me out to talk to cashiers, clerks and drivers. I know I should support mom-and-pop stores but I always go to the big discounter store because it's relievingly impersonal, nobody chasing me through the aisles offering unwanted assistance. If I could talk to a machine instead of talking to a human or using a very restricted keyboard interface, that would be bliss. I don't need this machine to be anthropomorphic-uncanny-kawaii, but then again, why not?

      As for the question in the title, maybe for Slashdotters it's easier to fall in love with a machine than with a human. But only if she has a View Source button.

    14. Re:Customer Service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now if people just spent as much time teaching their kids as they do teaching a robot...

  21. Nerds in their parents's basement... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Rejoice!!!!! Now, to get her spine to light up.

  22. No, she smells like a car tire. by dsmatthews9379 · · Score: 1

    It is a lump of metal and plastic, or hadn't you noticed?

  23. Looks creepy by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

    www.realdoll.com has better-looking full-size masturbators.

  24. Dissapointed... by ElectricHellKnight · · Score: 1

    Anyone who is making highly accurate robotic replicas of humans should at least have the common decency to model them after a giant Austrian bodybuilder. Alternatively- if they make sexbots- so long as someone in rainy Los Angeles lets me hunt them down with a revolver while wearing an overcoat, then I would also be satisfied.

    1. Re:Dissapointed... by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      Ever thought of going to Futureworld for your vacation?

  25. Re:What's The Point? by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

    You have my vote for moe 2D catgirl with long, pink curly hairs. I'll call her Pink, too!

    Signed,
    Santa.

  26. Android bodies, human brains by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Forget robot brains. Give crippled humans remote use of android bodies, and make them telepresence devices.

    Regarding taking away jobs, for a long time I've had the feeling that it's not ethical to make a human do a job that a machine can do. Unfortunately, our society is poorly fit to that idea, plutocracy is not a path to a post-scarcity society, but to more plutocracy.

    1. Re:Android bodies, human brains by blindseer · · Score: 1

      Why tele-presence when this technology can be adapted to produce lifelike "carriages" for the person? We've seen something like this already with those powered leg braces that can allow paraplegics to walk. If there is a technology for a person to control limbs with a brain implant, twitching of muscles that they do have control over, or whatever, then have the robot carry the person along rather than have them control from afar.

      Not only do I believe this to be more healthy for the person, barring things like an extreme immune disorder that prevents leaving a controlled environment, but also a much easier problem to solve. The problem of a long distance, short latency, high bandwidth, secure, and reliable link for the controls is just one problem that does not have to be solved.

      The uncanny appearance of the robotic face is likely to make interactions with the person's avatar uncomfortable. It would probably be better to have an obviously false face or have a camera on the person controlling the robot to live stream the person's face to a display on the robot. Again there is precedent for this with home bound students "attending" classes in school like this.

      I would think that even a person with a badly disfigured face (I'm thinking something like Two-Face from comic books) would be treated better with their real face than with even a very expensive robotic face instead. Perhaps I think too highly of my fellow humans.

      --
      I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
    2. Re:Android bodies, human brains by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Forget robot brains. Give crippled humans remote use of android bodies, and make them telepresence devices.

      That's likely to happen sooner than AI

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    3. Re:Android bodies, human brains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can see it now - regular escapades of handicapped people having a terrifying ride of their life in their android bodies, at the mercy of a teenage hacker.

  27. A different question about empathy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With whom are you more likely to empathize, with one of these robots, or with the typical Youtube responder who we believe has human DNA but lacks a brain worthy of an amoeba?

    And then there's Trump. I rest my case.

    The future is completely inevitable. We will empathize with, and love, robots, because they will have all the good human traits (including intelligence) which so many genetic humans very badly lack.

  28. Autism and robots by trickyb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There's interesting work going on at the moment to have robots with facial expressions interact with Autism Spectrum Disorder kids. In a nutshell, sometimes these kids find staring at a real human overwhelming, but a robot is ok, so a robot that can cycle through facial expressions is useful to allow these kids to learn "happy", "angry", "sad" faces and so on.
    I wondered if this human-like robot would be too life-like for such an application - and TFA seems to confirm it.
    Which might lead to interesting research into what degree of "lifelike-iness" is enough to block ASD kids from staring at a face. Or and even which specific facial features trigger the mental block.

    1. Re:Autism and robots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it would be easier to limit a robots expressions down to what is required than using humans and asking them to do that. So a robot with AI and lots of facial expressive capabilities could do what you mentioned. It's a programmable robot.

  29. Better at go; better at falling in love? by fizzup · · Score: 1

    Machines can play better backgammon than us. It's hard to know exactly when that happened, but it was somewhere between 1979 (BKG 9.8) and 1992 (TD-Gammon). Machines can play better chess than us, shaking our confidence in 1997 when Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov. They can play better Jeopardy! than us, which Watson did in 2008. Lots of people ignore this achievement now by dismissing Jeopardy as a buzzer relay, but I was shocked by Watson's first correct answer, and then shocked again by its first incorrect answer. This year, machines can play better Go than us. This is trouble, but it's trouble I can live with. The machines are excluded from our tournaments and it hasn't really affected our lives. It's going to be trouble for online poker when machines play poker better than people, and I think all of us will catch our breath a little when machines learn to beat us at rock-paper-scissors but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter that much.

    Machines can do some jobs better than us, and the list is growing. This is trouble, but it's trouble I can live with. We will have to find some way to decide where on the production possibilities curve we want to put our resources, and we will have to find some way to distribute production and workload, but I'm optimistic that we can find a way.

    But, this. This is not trouble, this is a problem. If machines fall in love better than humans, or if it's easier for humans to fall in love with machines than with other humans, then machines are clearly an existential threat to humanity. The last of us will be little more than pathetic cat ladies.

    1. Re:Better at go; better at falling in love? by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      The last of us will be little more than pathetic cat ladies.

      ...so what's the problem?

      Why do you think humans in general have to keep existing, so long as you keep existing?

      I'm going to be dead in 50 years, most likely, and I really, really don't care what the rest of you get up to, or don't, once my nipples go terminally north. You want to hump robots, good luck to ya. :)

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    2. Re:Better at go; better at falling in love? by dAzED1 · · Score: 1

      Planet is overpopulated anyway. And if the humanity that remains 100 years from now is so stupid it would have watered plants with gatorade, maybe it won't be so bad for robots to be running everything for them.

  30. Underwhelming by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    She can reply to basic questions and comments and she will even...

    Yes?

    ...tell you when she was activated if asked.

    Oh. That was a lot less interesting than the word "even" suggested it was going to be.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  31. Re:Can she fuck? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not sure if it can suck, but I'm sure you could duct tape a Fleshlight to it.

  32. Abuse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dose she fail pain? so we can take anger out on the robot instead of a wife and still feel satisfaction?

    Well we be able to get a legal marriage so single guys can enjoy all the tax breaks gay couple enjoy? Isn't fair that gay couple enjoy tax breaks and not single guys.

  33. Not uncanny. Lame. by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    That thing isn't even remotely close to human looking; it evokes absolutely no "uncanny valley" feeling for me. It has (poorly resolved, far too slow, inaccurate) expressions, inaccurate voice/mouth synch, eyes that look, at best, as if you're talking to a heroin addict, and moves in jerky, uneven steps.

    I look forward to a robot I can't tell from a human. Even just in simple conversation. But holding my breath based on that thing, I'm not, nor does the video in any way make me feel like I'm actually witnessing a real conversation.

    I am confident that anyone who takes that thing to be any kind of disturbing (or not) facsimile of a human being has the approximate emotional sensitivity of an Indian weather rock.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    1. Re:Not uncanny. Lame. by Iamthecheese · · Score: 1

      Speak for yourself, for me she's deep in uncanny valley. She looks human and moves like a human with severe brain damage.

      --
      If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
    2. Re:Not uncanny. Lame. by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      Perhaps you should go out and look at more humans. :)

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    3. Re: Not uncanny. Lame. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eww, why would you want to do that?

  34. Re:What's The Point? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

    The problem with sex bots, aside from cost, is that it'd be very hard to conceal from prying visitors. There's a social stigma today to just owning sex toys, and the amount of stigma depends upon the cost and complexity of the toy.

  35. Ewwwwwwwwww by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    Could I fall in love with that? Hell no, but make it look like a cute 19-year old and we'll see.

    At least make it an attractive robot instead of this creepy mommy-bot.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  36. Re:What's The Point? by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    It will happen. In the end, there will be no-one left but the One Percenters. Humankind will comprise of only them, the .01% richest people and their entourage, which will oversee the machines and reduced infrastructure to support their post-scarcity lifestyle. For the rest of us, the mass graves await.

    Welcome to Planet Kanye-Trump-Kardashian.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  37. Should be Silicone skin not Silicon! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    'nuff said

  38. Re:What's The Point? by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    The problem with sex bots, aside from cost, is that it'd be very hard to conceal from prying visitors. There's a social stigma today to just owning sex toys, and the amount of stigma depends upon the cost and complexity of the toy.

    The key will be to sell them as domestic helper-bots, capable of doing household chores. At night you can activate the "social behavior" options, turning into a Boink-Bot.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  39. What's the point, again? by jez9999 · · Score: 1

    I guess one reason to develop these robots is "because we can". Fair enough.

    But let's not hold out hope that we can program really hot babes to love us or servile sycophants to be our willing servants. The second these robots get good enough to be very similar to humans, they will be given human rights, and programming them in a way they don't agree with will be seen as invasive as rape. Damn.

    1. Re:What's the point, again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not only that, even if the robots themselves "don't mind" being programmed in such ways, you'll have all sorts of human rights groups making the decisions for them anyway.

  40. Try her lips by pubwvj · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you want really weird, try lip reading what she's saying. I can't hear her and when I lip read her face I get nonsense. Very fast nonsense.

    1. Re:Try her lips by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Weird thing about the Japanese language, the lips don't really move much when you are speaking. Lip reading Japanese can be very hard to impossible. So the researchers probably don't even realize that is a problem.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:Try her lips by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a robot. Shove an led display somewhere on it and no need to read lips the screen can display what's being said.

    3. Re:Try her lips by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But the ex-military guy in Death Note could read the lips of a suspect mumbling to himself, without error, from a video taken ten metres away with a hidden camera, on a 15-inch monitor!

      Clearly what you say must be untrue.

      (I know Japanese, and I agree with you by the way. The 'u' vowel is the only one where the lips contract a bit but all the other ones can be enunciated without moving them. Even the consonants, barring 'm', can be pronounced with no lip movement.)

    4. Re:Try her lips by pubwvj · · Score: 1

      Hmm... She definitely doesn't look like she's speaking Japanese. I studied Japanese a long time ago and still understand it a little.

    5. Re:Try her lips by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      I'll tell you it's a really weird feeling to get an email with the subject "Try her lips"

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  41. Re:What's The Point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Why not create create robot-Lenin and optimize-out those classes?

  42. Hanson Robotics?! by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    Was Muppet Labs outsourced by some H1B mutt?

  43. Poor Choice of Title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Judging by the comment section, I'm not the only one who read that title and expected this to be about a sex robot. In reality, the robot is designed for your eyes, not your... other members. lol

  44. Re:What's The Point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    An easy way to do that is creating an expansion slot between the legs, that can house extended batteries, sexual organs or an hotdog cooker for the american versions.

  45. Didn't you people see the educational video? by smooth+wombat · · Score: 1

    It was in all the high schools.

    The message is simple:

    Don't. Date. Robots.

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  46. Re:What's The Point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's a social stigma today to just owning sex toys

    There is? Most of the people I know have sex toys and accessories. They are often talked about in casual conversation.

  47. Re:What's The Point? by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 1

    sexual organs or an hotdog cooker

    Be careful not to get the 2 mixed up...

    --
    Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
  48. Re:What's The Point? by goose-incarnated · · Score: 1

    There's a social stigma today to just owning sex toys,

    Only for men. No woman is stigmatised for owning a dildo.

    --
    I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
  49. Three Laws Safe! by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

    Sorry, but it just had to be said...

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
  50. The human brain has developed intricate protection by blindseer · · Score: 1

    The human brain has developed over a very long period of time to detect what is largely regarded as "beauty" in others. This ability boils down to detecting a high probability of producing healthy offspring. Producing a machine that can fool a human brain to the point it can bypass this defense mechanism is something I would consider quite the feat.

    Consider people that have undergone sex reassignment surgery, people with botched cosmetic surgery, people that had appearance altering accidents (even after having "successful" corrective surgery), people with even mild genetic abnormalities, or even just badly done make-up. We can see this as a problem even if we cannot put into words what the problem might be.

    In rare cases these uncanny faces might not appear as frightening but fascinating, such as making a person appear "angelic" or "otherworldly". While this might not trigger a "fight or flight" response it would still make someone unlikely to see this person as someone that they'd fall in love with.

    Attractiveness goes beyond just appearance too. A picture may be worth a thousand words but to fall in love with someone beyond the superficial takes more. This robot demonstration shows a face that is very lifelike but when it moves it does so in a manner that is less than lifelike. The voice matters too, this is likely also a matter of detecting health in a potential mate. What they say with that voice matters too.

    Now we'd get into a different place if the question is, "would you fuck this robot?" That get's to a different part of the brain that wishes to find an avenue for something other than propagation of the species. In which case the robot could look very much less than lifelike and still serve well for that purpose.

    --
    I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
  51. Re:What's The Point? by QRDeNameland · · Score: 1

    An easy way to do that is creating an expansion slot between the legs, that can house extended batteries, sexual organs or an hotdog cooker for the american versions.

    As Sterling Archer could tell you, beware the trauma of waking up to a vagina in the sink.

    --
    Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
  52. Ehhhhh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Needs hair.

  53. Re: What's The Point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pretty much. Whatever men want or like is demonized and whatever women want or like is celebrated. Just more double standard.

  54. Obligatory Blade Runner Reference by Maclir · · Score: 1

    If they called it a replicant, I could fall in love....

    1. Re:Obligatory Blade Runner Reference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Japan, maybe a quarter of all young guys has a wife named Hatsune Miku. Miku isn't even a robot, just a software-driven hologram who sings she is cute and the no.1 princess in the world.

  55. Wrong question by clovis · · Score: 1

    People can fall in love with their dog, their house or their car, so a robot isn't that big a leap.

    What you want to know is whether we can build a robot that falls in love with you.

    1. Re:Wrong question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People can fall in love with their dog, their house or their car, so a robot isn't that big a leap.

      What you want to know is whether we can build a robot that falls in love with you.

      Of course you can, they'll do whatever you program them to do, because robot. Now, it won't be able to "consciously" love you as it isn't conscious and can't experience existence, but it will act however you want it to.

  56. Re:What's The Point? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    It will happen. In the end, there will be no-one left but the One Percenters. Humankind will comprise of only them, the .01% richest people and their entourage, which will oversee the machines and reduced infrastructure to support their post-scarcity lifestyle. For the rest of us, the mass graves await.

    Welcome to Planet Kanye-Trump-Kardashian.

    What the hell is th epoint of that if you don't have teh mass of poor people under you? Hell if everyone is wealthy, everyone will be just as poor as everyone else.

    This will not do!

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  57. Re:What's The Point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It will happen. In the end, there will be no-one left but the One Percenters. Humankind will comprise of only them, the .01% richest people and their entourage, which will oversee the machines and reduced infrastructure to support their post-scarcity lifestyle. For the rest of us, the mass graves await. There is no possible other way! The utopian future cannot happen unless we, the have-not and have-few, disappear! Only the One Percenters can make it happen. Think of it! The Paris Hiltons of this world will enjoy a carefree life of abundance in a pristine world, while the rest of us rot at the bottom of a mechanically-dug trench!

    That is how the world in Idiocracy comes about.

    Then the Paris Hiltons of the world die from a disease contracted from a dirty iPhone.

    What will these idiots do when there is no one left to blame all the consequences of their stupid shit on?

  58. Re:What's The Point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So that the German secret service could use them as commoner disparaging psychological weapons, agent provocateurs en masse non pour masse? Nooo..

  59. Re:What's The Point? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

    The TV series Humans used this idea. Domestic robots have the physical capability of performing some sexual functions - exactly how far it goes isn't stated clearly - but this functionality is not loaded as software by default. It requires opening an envelope bearing an additional EULA and reading the robot a license key to enable that functionality.

    Humans being a scifi-drama, this leads to some hasty family intrigue when the wife finds the opened envelops in a rubbish bin and isn't sure if it was her husband that opened it, or her son. The possibility of it being the daughter never even occurred.

  60. Re:What's The Point? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

    You mean a 'groinal attachment?'

  61. Re:What's The Point? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

    Must vary by region. I'm in what you might call a 'fairly liberal' country and the stigma is there, but not cripplingly so. But in some places... well, in Texas and Alabama the sale or possession with intent to sell of any sex toy is actually a criminal offence and you can be sent to jail for a period of some years. Though that law is seldom enforced.

  62. Robotic love of nerds by mi · · Score: 0

    I bet not even a robot would shag a nerd. :)

    Unless the nerd gets to alter the robot's firmware.

    Years ago somebody dreamed of being able to reprogram mosquitoes — turning our CO2 and sweat into a repellent rather than an attractant for them would require changing only one bit somewhere.

    Making oneself attractive to a programmable computer is only easier... And then comes the idea of replacing the manufacturer's firmware completely (think OpenWRT) — adding implementations for the kind of loving stuff, that the corporate meeting room has never discussed...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  63. Bag your face, I'm sure by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    That's soooo grody. Is your mom a total space cadet?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:Bag your face, I'm sure by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      My mom has been dead for over a decade. Makes her rather inefficient at cleaning the cat box. Which leaves it up to me. A task I would be happy to pass along to a droid, once they become sophisticated enough to handle it.

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  64. Die Luddite Scum by mi · · Score: 0

    There is no possible other way! The utopian future cannot happen unless we, the have-not and have-few, disappear!

    This is even more stupid, than the "no-one left but the One Percenters" part.

    The sort of thing the serfs toiling in the fields a thousand years ago would say against combines and other agricultural machinery. Yes, nothing but graves awaited them — while we, the "one percenters" (by the standards of those times), live in the post-scarcity society with food so abundant, we throw out billions of dollars worth of it into trash.

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  65. It's Japanese by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Everything Japanese is brilliant, including the Nanking Massacre.

    I am AmiMoJo, and I approve this message.

  66. Re:What's The Point? by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    What are you talking about? There are sex toy shops all over Texas and Alabama. Sometimes I wonder where people get their "facts" even though Google is readily available.

  67. A bit to early to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe if she actually becomes "as conscious, creative and capable as any human".
    Otherwise it's like 'falling in love' with a sex doll.

  68. Re:What's The Point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's how you know someone is on reddit too often.

  69. Either VERY early in, or just a PR stunt by Assmasher · · Score: 1

    ...because when you see 'sophia' speak, you'll notice that all of the visemes in her speech are exaggerated (it makes the corners of her mouth look super twitchy.) This is because whoever wrote the animation side of their TTS solution either just started this week or has never done this before.

    The solution to this is some trivial blending and based upon the near and mid term expected word rate and the viseme to viseme transitions about to happen.

    For a company espousing how human their robots are, they've got lots of very basic and fundamental cognitive cueing issues (the need to introduce minute focal point adjustments of the eyes [human eyes are rarely completely still] for example.)

    --
    Loading...
  70. Re:What's The Point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ho long until people can vote for "Trump V2.0" by Ciberdyne Industries ?

  71. Re:What's The Point? by doccus · · Score: 1

    4 billion lifelike robots? I always thought something was slightly suspicious with the other sex...

  72. Re:What's The Point? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

    Here's a reliable source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

    "Ever since that state approved the Anti-Obscenity Enforcement Act in 1998, which prohibited the sale of “any device designed or marketed as useful for the stimulation of human genital organs,” humorists have mocked the statute while many Alabamans with common sense have tried to downplay its significance." ...
    "Alabamans who sell sex toys — even inside so-called “adult oriented” businesses — face up to a year in prison and a $10,000 fine. Repeat offenders risk a ten year prison sentence. "

    I used to be right about Texas. Since the time I read of it, their dildo-ban law has been overturned in court. Alabama's still stands. The law exists, it just isn't enforced.

  73. Re: What's The Point? by beastofburdon · · Score: 1

    That statement is not far off the mark, if at all.

  74. Women by kennethlarsen · · Score: 1

    So we already deal with women not being treated as equals and now we're making female robots who are beautiful, who are never mad and has eternal youth. I wonder how this will affect our behavior towards women.