I think I have seen more robots in the two weeks of my Japan visit than ever before. Obviously, there is much research being done on all aspects of creating robots/androids and studying the interaction of humans with artificial entities, whether they are physical, as in a robot that moves and might be able to move around, or on a computer monitor as a graphic representation.

One of the highlights of the ISRE conference was a key note address by Hiroshi Ishiguro from University of Osaka and the ATR. Prof. Ishiguro is well known for his work on creating machines that look like humans. Specifically, like particular humans - hence he refers to these as geminoids - as in twin. A different term is "actroid" - geminoid is in fact a registered trademark by ATR. Whether geminoid or actroid, they are all androids (or gynoids), i.e., machines that resemble male or female humans. The effect is stunning. Whether moving or not they are close enough to a "real" human being to have some sort of presence. Unless they are sitting in a corner and not doing much, they are not mistaken for being human (von der Pütten et al., 2011). However, they are also not "just" a machine. How much of humanity we perceive in these machines is one of the key research questions several research groups are currently investigating.

Von der Pütten, A.M., Krämer, N.C., Becker-Asano, C., & Ishiguro, H. (2011). An android in the field. HRI 2011, 283-284.
Picture
Hiroshi Ishiguro, Geminoid F, Arvid Kappas at ISRE 2011 in Kyoto, July 2011.

Ishiguro outlines the history of his quest for building machines that we might perceive as being human. One of the early attempts was a gynoid that looked like his daughter (Repliee R1). In his words - that was uncanny. But he believes that the newest generation of geminoids, such as Geminoid F is not uncanny anymore. The word uncanny here refers to Masahiro Mori's notion of the uncanny valley. Personally, I am not sure regarding Geminoid F. To me she was still somewhat uncanny ...
 


Comments

Dennis Küster
09/07/2011 1:56pm

Personally, I would not bet on the *uncanny* aspect to disappear completely even if androids became so good that they'd be well within the human range of behavior.

Speculative without having the actual robots (and image-based studies can only go so far), but imagine you had an android with perfect hair, skin, voice, etc. - and the social behavior of a normal human person with Asperger-Syndrome. Would that be less uncanny - or rather more uncanny than present-day Ishiguro-type androids?

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10/04/2012 1:29pm

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11/07/2012 6:34am

I have seen these robots work in a conference and they are just massive, beautiful, and amazing. They work as good as they look.

02/05/2013 2:45pm

When is the next conference? I missed this one and I really want to be present next time.

01/04/2013 6:00am

Not a great deal

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02/05/2013 2:35pm

I have a friend who went to this conference and he said that he really learned a lot of useful things there.

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10/05/2012 7:43am

"Rooty Toot Toot", the name itself suggests that it must be fun to watch the animated story.

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10/10/2012 9:00am

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06/16/2013 10:01pm

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06/18/2013 12:45pm

It took us three years to build the NeXT computer. If we'd given customers what they said they wanted, we'd have built a computer they'd have been happy with a year after we spoke to them - not something they'd want now.

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11/20/2012 5:48am

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This is so fabulous, I think no one can beat to Japanese in making amazing robots.

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11/21/2012 10:34am


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11/21/2012 4:49pm


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01/01/2013 11:38am


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01/01/2013 8:48pm

I saw these robots work in a conference and only mass, beautiful and amazing. They work as good as they seem.

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01/08/2013 8:55am

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Japanese prepares skilled robots. I found that Some of the Japanese robots move through rolling. The humanoid Japanese robots has so many different characteristics such as blinking, smiling or expressing emotions.

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01/20/2013 6:00pm

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02/07/2013 8:31pm

This is just the information I found everywhere. I and my friends are arguing a similar problem! Now I know that I was right. Thanks for the information you post.

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03/01/2013 7:47am

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03/07/2013 1:27pm

Robots are the next generations highly expected technology. Robotics has opened a huge source of jobs for many youngsters. The one created by Mr. Hiroshi has been marked as one of the most advanced robots to have walked on earth.

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This alternative is really good. I like it very much!

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03/10/2013 10:38am

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03/11/2013 6:32pm

Really, really good post, thank you for sharing these information's!

Waiting for more :)

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03/13/2013 6:53am

The effect is stunning. Whether moving or not they are close enough to a "real" human being to have some sort of presence.

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04/28/2013 9:56pm

I would agree on this... Stunning..

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03/14/2013 4:36pm

And more robots! Everywhere! :D

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03/14/2013 7:18pm

They are taking over the world, noooooes!

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03/14/2013 7:50pm

We are doomed with this kind of economy growth that China has!

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03/20/2013 6:59am

Many more researchers across Japan have unveiled increasingly sophisticated robots with different functions like receptionist, security guard and even the teacher.

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I read so many blogs of Prof. Ishiguro, he is really very talented man and I have collected useful information from him.

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04/24/2013 9:50pm

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