[SIZE="2"]SMH, February 1, 2006 - my birthday![/SIZE]
TRAVELLING long distances to meetings and conferences will soon be a thing of the past for Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro, the creator of the world's most human-like robot - a female named Repliee Q2. Ishiguro, of Osaka University, is close to finishing an even more advanced robot - a male, this time - that will be a physical replica of himself.
"I will not need to come here again," he told a conference in Sydney earlier this week. "I will send my android instead."
The busy Japanese scientist expects his $500,000 lookalike will prove most valuable for avoiding the regular trips to see his research students at the ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories in Kyoto, an hour's drive away from his Osaka office.
Its lifelike presence will keep his researchers on their toes during teleconferences, he hopes. "If they feel my authority with my android there, it will be good," he told the Herald.
...
He predicts that as lifelike androids become cheaper and more sophisticated, some of their first uses will be as companions for the elderly and as guides for people in railways stations or museums. [SIZE="4"]Replacements for models draped over cars at motor shows is another possible early application, he says. "Then you don't need to hire beautiful women."[/SIZE] ... more
[SIZE="5"][color="Red"]Noooooooooooo![/color]
[color="Magenta"]Please say it isn't so.[/color][/SIZE]
[SIZE="3"]Replaceable - Booth Babes now face a clear and present danger: Androids, prepared to work for just a bukkake of lubricating oil, at the end of the week.[/SIZE]
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