Okay, I admit it... I found myself wondering whether this was in fact a real robot, or actually a person pretending to be a robot or even a fake robot.
*spectrum.ieee.org/image/1804286
It's not a fake. This is the latest iteration of Geminoid series of ultra-realistic androids, from Kokoro and Hiroshi Ishiguro. Specifically, this is Geminoid DK, which was constructed to look exactly like Associate Professor Henrik Scharfe of Aalborg University in Denmark.
[youtube]uzwK02OYrTk[/youtube]
When we wrote Prof. Scharfe inquiring about the android, he confirmed: "No, it is not a hoax," adding that they've been working on the project for about a year now. His Geminoid was built by Kokoro in Tokyo and is now at Japan's Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) in Nara for setup and testing. "In a couple of weeks I will go back at Japan to participate in the experiments," he says. "After that, the robot is shipped to Denmark to inhabit a newly designed lab."
Geminoid DK does look pretty much exactly like the original template:
The Geminoid is on the right. I think.
geminoid hi-1 geminoid fIf you're wondering why on Earth someone would want an exact robotic double of themselves, besides being TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY AWESOME, the Geminoid is going to be used for researching "emotional affordances" in human-robot interaction, the novel notion of "blended presence," as well as cultural differences (from different continents) in the perception of robots.
These are some of the same issues Hiroshi Ishiguro set out to explore when he created his robot clone, the Geminoid HI-1, and a copy of a twentysomething Japanese model, the Geminoid F [see photos, right].
For his part, Ishiguro, a professor at Osaka University and group leader at ATR, declined to give us more details about his involvement with the Geminoid DK project, saying only that he and Scharfe "are working together."
Like with the other Geminoid robots, all of the movements and expressions of Geminoid DK are remote controlled by an operator with a computer, who uses a motion-capture system that tracks facial expressions and head movements. Turn your head and the Geminoid does the same; move your mouth and the android follows suit.
But it's not hard to imagine full autonomy in the not-to-distant future.
Incidentally, here's what Henrik's wife thinks about his robotic double:
- She prefers body number 1
- She suggests that we should always send body number 2 to conferences and stuff
Prefers body number 1, eh? Does she know that body number 2 is upgradeable?
Here's another video and more freaky pics of Geminoid DK in the making to fuel your nightmares, enjoy:
