Lifelike Robotics - Is Data too far off? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

genuinegirly · 01-02-2006, 08:08 AM

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...0610_robot.jpg

Quote:

Photo in the News: Ultra-Lifelike Robot Debuts in Japan
Picture: Lifelike robot in Japan

Photograph from AFP/Getty Images

June 10, 2005—Quick, which one is the robot?

Repliee Q1 (at left in both pictures) appeared yesterday at the 2005 World Expo in Japan, where she gestured, blinked, spoke, and even appeared to breathe. Shown with co-creator Hiroshi Ishiguru of Osaka University, the android is partially covered in skinlike silicone. Q1 is powered by a nearby air compressor, and has 31 points of articulation in its upper body.

Internal sensors allow the android to react "naturally." It can block an attempted slap, for example. But it's the little, "unconscious" movements that give the robot its eerie verisimilitude: the slight flutter of the eyelids, the subtle rising and falling of the chest, the constant, nearly imperceptible shifting so familiar to humans.

Surrounded by machines that draw portraits, swat fast-moving balls, and snake through debris, Q1 is only one of the showstoppers at the expo's Prototype Robot Exposition, which aims to showcase Japan's growing role in the robotics industry.

But given Q1's reported glitch-related "spasms" at the expo, it may be a while before androids are escorting tour groups or looking after children—which may be just as well. "When a robot looks too much like the real thing, it's creepy," Hiroshi told the Associated Press.

—Ted Chamberlain

I think this is a pretty nifty, but I could see how it could upset some people to have a robot that looks a little too human. What's your opinion?

Sgoilear · 01-02-2006, 08:51 AM

Definitly a little disconcerting. If robots are mass produced for purposes of leading tour groups and other uses I don't think they will look too human as it that will simply disturb people far too much.

feelgood · 01-02-2006, 11:29 AM

The company better be smart enough to implement the 3 rules of robotics. Oh wait, that's AI that robot doesn't have one. We're good then

Beside, technically speaking, a robot like Data would be DECADES, perhaps HUNDREDS of years ahead of what we currently have.

SecretMethod70 · 01-02-2006, 12:41 PM

it's at least hundreds of years away. Looking human and ACTING (relatively) human are two different things.

01-02-2006, 08:51 AM	#2 (permalink)
Sgoilear Tilted Location: Colorado	Definitly a little disconcerting. If robots are mass produced for purposes of leading tour groups and other uses I don't think they will look too human as it that will simply disturb people far too much. __________________ "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them." -George Bernard Shaw

01-02-2006, 12:41 PM	#4 (permalink)
SecretMethod70 Human Administrator Location: Chicago	it's at least hundreds of years away. Looking human and ACTING (relatively) human are two different things. __________________ Le temps détruit tout "Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

01-02-2006, 11:29 AM	#3 (permalink)
feelgood Free Mars! Location: I dunno, there's white people around me saying "eh" all the time	The company better be smart enough to implement the 3 rules of robotics. Oh wait, that's AI that robot doesn't have one. We're good then Beside, technically speaking, a robot like Data would be DECADES, perhaps HUNDREDS of years ahead of what we currently have.