Japan unveils 'world's first' android newscaster
"Eerily lifelike" Japanese scientists on Tuesday unveiled what they said was the world's first news-reading android, eerily lifelike and possessing a sense of humour to match her perfect language skills. Duration: 01:20.
Eerily lifelike
I don't know whether to be wowed the huge advances in technology or creeped out by how hard we are trying (and succeeding!) to make robots look like us.
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The Uncanny Valley is a sudden, deep revulsion of something that looks mostly human, but not quite there. I really didn't have revulsion for either one of those robots- they both looked clunky and not nearly as good as some other CGI stuff I've seen before.
When it comes to a news host, what's the point of having a robot at all? CGI is far more fluid and engaging than the herky-jerky motions that the best robots can put forward today.
I wouldn't go as far as saying "Eerily lifelike" just yet. I think we are about 5-10 years away from truly life like robotics with proper body motion and facial expressions. This still felt like an animatronic puppet that was being piloted by someone sitting under the desk. Having said that, I still am very excited for the future, and some great progress has been made!
This article got me to thinking what our robots do and should look like. As humans we tend to try and make things look like us, our pets are now wearing our clothes, and the greatest number of 'aww" pictures are of animals that seem to be smiling like us. Is it ego? Comfort zone? Safety? Should our Roomba have a pleasant human face as it whisks away our dirt? Our smartphones have voices to soothe us? Our smart appliances arms to hug us? Are we being primed to integrate more seamlessly with robots than with other humans? Which is better in the long run, robots that appear human or more traditionally robotic? And why? As Arsenio would've said those many years ago, "Things that make you go hmmm"