Here’s video (from Engadget) of a Geminoid robot based on Professor Henrik Scharfe of Denmark’s Aalborg University. It is trying to smile:
(More video of Scharfe-bot shuttling through various facial expressions can be found after the jump.)
In other creepy robot news, Japanese “roboticist” Hiroshi Ishiguro has created a cell phone version of his Telenoid R1 Larvabot. “Talk into its belly and use a motion-capture system to transmit your face and head movements to the Elfoid, which will act them out, conveying your presence in a way that voices just can’t.” Video of a non-moving Larvabot is creepy enough as it is. I don’t know if I ever want to see a friend’s voice come out of this thing:
I never thought real robots would make me nostalgic for Terminators, but the future has arrived and it is creepy as fuck.
That guy seems like a lot of fun. Is he single?
What most people don’t realize is we replaced Jean Godden with a robot back in 2004.
So far nobody has noticed.
@3 hey, don’t forget our Obligation to provide Free Naval Protection for all shipping lanes for Red China worldwide.
It’s part of being the World Police.
I’m a little concerned about the anogenital distance of that second one.
Larvabot looks like a robo-vibrator. Even weirder to hear your friend’s voice come out of that.
Shields and Yarnell were much better.
Putting scare quotes roboticist… you smarmy bastard, Paul Constant. They put scare quotes around “blogger” once.
@8 I’m pretty sure most bloggers are still regarded as a lower life form.
Can we stop dressing robots up in human suits, please? It’s upsetting.
Sam Waterston?
hey outercow, don’t dis paul! when you dis paul, you dis yourself.
Wake me when the robot sex dolls arrive.
If I were drunk those would fool me good.
@11 HAHAHAHAHAHA
it’s the uncanny divide fuckin with your head. imo androids are boooor-ing but obviously everybody has a huge hard-on for them, probably all driven by the fuckdoll market.
Ridley Scott said of Blade Runner, something like “if you going to make androids, of course you would make them good looking”.
In this case the bots aren’t as lively as these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK0Pi4wC8…
#8 continued, yup definitely forgot to put the word “around” in there.
That third video made me laugh so hard!! You guys HAVE to watch it if you didn’t!!
Ok the first video looked like a robot and then the third video looked like a human trying to pretend to be a robot. Now I am all messed up in the head…
This convinces me Goldy’s right about the Hong Kong style internet we need. if we don’t have superfast internet streaming into and through our homes at all times, how else is the hive mind going to get our domestic robots to behead us all at precisely the same moment? It’s not fair.
Arg, uncanny valley! I’m all for realistic facial expressions on robots, but I’d prefer if the smiles and whatnot were on cute only-slightly-humanoid blobs. Like bananas. Or cartoon kitties.
@20 More Keepon! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g-yrjh58…
This is all the phenomenon known as the uncanny valley. Basically as robot’s become more human like they get more and more cute until they fall off i cuteness into creepiness. Then they finally come around the cute again. Its a valley on the graph of how acceptable the appearance of a robot is. It’s fine people, nothing to see here. Move along and it will all be better in a few years.