Robotics

Meet Geminoid-F, Professor Ishiguro's latest uncanny android

Meet Geminoid-F, Professor Ishiguro's latest uncanny android
Admirers of lifelike androids could do worse than take a trip to Tokyo's Shinjuku ward, where Professor Ishiguro's Geminoid-F is on display until Valentine's Day
Admirers of lifelike androids could do worse than take a trip to Tokyo's Shinjuku ward, where Professor Ishiguro's Geminoid-F is on display until Valentine's Day
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A glimpse of a dystopian future where penal systems and retail collide?
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A glimpse of a dystopian future where penal systems and retail collide?
Will shoppers take to Geminoid-F?
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Will shoppers take to Geminoid-F?
Admirers of lifelike androids could do worse than take a trip to Tokyo's Shinjuku ward, where Professor Ishiguro's Geminoid-F is on display until Valentine's Day
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Admirers of lifelike androids could do worse than take a trip to Tokyo's Shinjuku ward, where Professor Ishiguro's Geminoid-F is on display until Valentine's Day
Geminoid-F will not go out of its way to play to the crowd
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Geminoid-F will not go out of its way to play to the crowd
Geminoid-F will not go out of its way to play to the crowd
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Geminoid-F will not go out of its way to play to the crowd
Geminoid-F is programmed with 65 human-like actions
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Geminoid-F is programmed with 65 human-like actions
Geminoid-F is programmed with 65 human-like actions
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Geminoid-F is programmed with 65 human-like actions
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Visitors to Tokyo's Shinjuku ward my find themselves figuratively transported to the uncanny valley, if they take a stroll past Takashimaya department store, that is. Until Valentine's Day, a prominent display window there will play glassy prison cell to the impressive and unnerving Geminoid-F android. Geminoid-F is so strikingly lifelike in appearance, yet so thoroughly inhuman in many respects (head and eye movement among them), that it can only be the work of that master of the uncanny, Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro.

Geminoid-F is an evolution of the Geminoid HI-1, which is perhaps more readily identifiable as the android doppelgänger of the Professor himself. Though Geminoid-F has a gentle countenance, it will not sit completely passively on display, programmed as it is with 65 human-like actions as well as a number of simulated emotions. It will not go out of its way to play to the crowd, but will interact to a certain extent, including returning the smiles of passers by.

Though Geminoid-F has been around for some time, the purpose of this latest experiment (if one can call it that) is to gauge the acceptance of shoppers to android clothes models, who are obviously less static and more lifelike than mannequins, but less demanding than human fashion models, who tend to ask for inconveniences such as wages, pee breaks and union representation.

DigInfo TV has video of the Geminoid-F in action, which you can see below.

Source: DigInfo TV

Geminoid-F Android in a Tokyo Department Store #DigInfo

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7 comments
7 comments
DemonDuck
Needs to get a little work done on those jowls....
Denis Klanac
what would it be like to see what the android is feeling? lets see, I guess it would be something like this:
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PG
I\'ve seen stuff at Disneyland over 10 years ago that rivals that. It\'s just been programmed a bit better. Movements are jerky and unrealistic. Not saying it\'s a step backward. Just not a HUGE step forward.
PG
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MjZr6Bca3c&feature=related Tell me this is not more realistic
solutions4circuits
This guy needs to get a girlfriend :-)
Ritchard Mckie
I would like one to do the housework without complaining.
Dave B13
DemonD, Looks like she\'s alergic to the nickle in her NiCads. If Prof switches to alkalines I think her lumpy skin will smooth right out. She is kind of boring to watch, replace her head with a cutout photo and blow it around with a fan, that will keep my interest a little longer.