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Thursday, July 28, 2005

The "Uncanny Valley" - Part II

Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet devised - a "female" android called Repliee Q1.

This is the same robot that was premiered at the World Expo several months ago and it falls well on the uphill side of "The Uncanny Valley" of creepiness that I discussed earlier: it's really, really cute.
"I have developed many robots before," Repliee Q1's designer, Professor Ishiguro, told the BBC News website, "but I soon realised the importance of its appearance. A human-like appearance gives a robot a strong feeling of presence."

Professor Ishiguro believes that it may prove possible to build an android that could pass for a human, if only for a brief period.

"An android could get away with it for a short time, 5-10 seconds. However, if we carefully select the situation, we could extend that, to perhaps 10 minutes," he said.

"More importantly, we have found that people forget she is an android while interacting with her. Consciously, it is easy to see that she is an android, but unconsciously, we react to the android as if she were a woman."


Actually, it depends on whom the robot is modeled after. Some people (friends of yours, I'm sure) are very mechanical in their motions and speech and would be indistinguishable from a machine no matter how long you hung around with them. I'd be careful from here on in; such a machine could easily be elected and end up running something. Why, come to think of it: how can we be sure that hasn't already happened? Pass the WD-40 please.

posted by C. J.  # 11:37 AM
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