Newest Japanese androids are the most human-looking yet

While Americans excel at producing deadly robots of militaristic persuasions, the Japanese are arguably the most competent designers of eerily human-like robots. Behold Kodomoroid and Otonaroid, two girlish-looking robot guides debuting at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo.

 
When the silicon-skinned androids were remotely activated by Professor Ishiguro during Tuesday’s demonstration, they twitched their eyebrows, blinked their eyes, swayed their heads, and even recited dialogue with their lips in-sync. Kodomoroid, the android sporting a wig fashioned into a bob, read the news and recited complex tongue twisters without stumbling once. Meanwhile, the announcer robot Otonaroid exhibited a bit of some shyness a la technical difficulties when it remained silent after being to introduce itself twice. Both robots are able to use a variety of voices, ranging from a deep male voice to that of a high-pitched girl. 

Kodomoroid
 
The two androids, who are the latest creations of Osaka University Professor and Android expert Hiroshi Ishiguro, will serve as museum guides beginning Wednesday, June 25. The robots will be open to public scrutiny, allowing museum goers to mingle with them and contemplate the differences between humans and machines. Professor Ishiguro says the venture will help gather useful research pertaining to human interactions with robots. “Making androids is about exploring what it means to be human,” he told reporters Tuesday, “examining the question of what is emotion, what is awareness, what is thinking.”

Otonaroid
 
Professor Ishiguro’s philosophy of robotics differs from that of western robotic scientists, who believe that a human appearance is pointless and even disturbing. Ishiguro, on the other hand, has been perfecting the human-like appearance for over 20 years; he has even created robots that resemble himself.

Via Phys.org