Made In Japan

[Lucifer Box]

Besides, it doesn't have a Ph.D., like his mother.

[OwlHoot]

Didn't someone post this a while ago? Something about AtW finally getting his leg over?

AtW couldn't get his leg over this robot by the sound of it:

"Internal sensors allow the android to react "naturally." It can block an attempted slap, for example. But it's the little, "unconscious" movements that give the robot its eerie verisimilitude"

If AtW got too close it would instinctively give him a slap and, if he persisted, an unconsious but eerily verisimilitudinous knee in the groin.

[WageSlave]

Wrong!

Maybe, but nice arse anyway

[Churchill]

Why is it an insult? Two notches are better than one, surely.


And you are Spod!

Wrong!

[WageSlave]

Who are you insulting, me or spodly?

Why is it an insult? Two notches are better than one, surely.


And you are Spod!

[wobbegong]

Didn't someone post this a while ago? Something about AtW finally getting his leg over?

Yep, it was me.

[Churchill]

Never turn down a notch, Spod, never turn down a notch.

Who are you insulting, me or spodly?

[WageSlave]

Better than your usual squeeze then, eh?

Never turn down a notch, Spod, never turn down a notch.

[Churchill]

Still...wouldn't say no...

Better than your usual squeeze then, eh?

[WageSlave]

Still...wouldn't say no...

[DimPrawn]

Yes that is old news.

[Churchill]

Didn't someone post this a while ago? Something about AtW finally getting his leg over?

[AlfredJPruffock]

June 10, 2005—Quick, which one is the robot?


Repliee Q1 (at left in both pictures) appeared yesterday at the 2005 World Expo in Japan, where she gestured, blinked, spoke, and even appeared to breathe. Shown with co-creator Hiroshi Ishiguru of Osaka University, the android is partially covered in skinlike silicone. Q1 is powered by a nearby air compressor, and has 31 points of articulation in its upper body.

Internal sensors allow the android to react "naturally." It can block an attempted slap, for example. But it's the little, "unconscious" movements that give the robot its eerie verisimilitude: the slight flutter of the eyelids, the subtle rising and falling of the chest, the constant, nearly imperceptible shifting so familiar to humans.

Surrounded by machines that draw portraits, swat fast-moving balls, and snake through debris, Q1 is only one of the showstoppers at the expo's Prototype Robot Exposition, which aims to showcase Japan's growing role in the robotics industry.

But given Q1's reported glitch-related "spasms" at the expo, it may be a while before androids are escorting tour groups or looking after children—which may be just as well. "When a robot looks too much like the real thing, it's creepy," Hiroshi told the Associated Press.

—Ted Chamberlain