 Repliee Q1 appeared yesterday at the 2005 World Expo in Japan, where she gestured, blinked, spoke, and even appeared to breathe. | Of course it's a life-like girl robot, if you're a computer geek what else are you going to build? |
Shown with co-creator Hiroshi Ishiguru of Osaka University, the android is partially covered in soft supple skinlike silicone. Q1 is powered by a nearby air compressor, and has 31 points of articulation in its upper body. | And 1,647 points of "articulation" below the waist |
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 breasts 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 orgasms "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. Picture at the link above, he's created a tour guide. |
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