The robots seem to get better and better.
Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro is likely correct when he discusses the (Shinto concept) that robots can have 'soul'.
Meet Kodomoroid, Japan's android newsreader
- Date June 25, 2014 - 6:22
The new face of news readers? Photographers gather around female-announcer robot called Otonaroid, second right, and a girl robot called Kodomoroid, right. Photo: AP
Tokyo: Japanese scientists have unveiled what they say is the world's first news-reading android, eerily lifelike and possessing a sense of humour to match her perfect language skills.
The adolescent-looking "Kodomoroid" - an amalgamation of the Japanese word "kodomo" (child) and "android" - delivered news of an earthquake and an FBI raid to amazed reporters in Tokyo.
She even poked fun at her creator, telling leading robotics professor Hiroshi Ishiguro: "You're starting to look like a robot!"
Japanese announcer Aki Nakata (left) smiles as she poses with a new humanoid robot named "Kodomoroid" at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Technology in Tokyo. Photo: AFP
The pitch-perfect Kodomoroid was flanked by a grown-up fellow robot, who caught stage fright and fluffed her lines when asked to introduce herself.
"Otonaroid" - "otona" meaning adult - excused herself after a quick reboot, saying: "I'm a little bit nervous."
Both androids will work at Tokyo's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, interacting with visitors to collect data for Mr Ishiguro's studies into human reactions to the machines.
Osaka University professor Hiroshi Ishiguro (right) with his creation "Kodomoroid" as "she" is introduced to the media. Photo: AFP
"We will have more and more robots in our lives in the future," Mr Ishiguro said.
"You can take my androids on planes - the torso in the suitcase and the head in carry-on."
Mr Ishiguro has a humanoid version of himself which he sends overseas to give lectures.
"It cuts down on my business trips," he said.
"Technical advances mean robots look and act more human, and that makes us think about our worth."
Otonaroid looked as if she could need rewiring before beginning her new role as the museum's science communicator, her lips out of sync and her neck movements symptomatic of a bad night's sleep.
But Mr Ishiguro insisted both would prove invaluable to his continued research as museum visitors get to have conversations with the 'droids and operate them as extensions of their own body.
"This will give us important feedback as we explore the question of what is human," said the 50-year-old.
"We want robots to become increasingly clever."
A chatty humanoid called Pepper designed by SoftBank as a household companion is set to go on sale for around $US2,000 ($A2,165) in Japan next year after a successful debut earlier this month.
"That's the same price as a laptop computer," said Mr Ishiguro. "It's incredible."
As the line between humans and machines continued to blur, Mr Ishiguro's mechanical newscaster performed tongue-twisters, to the amazement of their human counterparts.
"My dream is to have my own TV show in the future," Kodomoroid said.
AFP
I'm confident you may soon be able to order a robot that will be enabled to do exactly what you like for sex, and able to do all the things you prefer, down to sharing that last cigarette (post-coital, of course) before you say good bye
