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Telenoid R1: Japan’s Most Disturbing Robot

Posted by JacobSloan on August 14, 2010

CNET reports that famed Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro has just created the Telenoid R1, a “minimalistic human” robot designed to aid in long-distance communication:

Telenoid users can interact with people at a distance through a laptop. The control system tracks the user’s face and head motion and captures his or her voice. The motions and voice are relayed to Telenoid, which expresses them while interacting.

Hearing the voice of a loved one emerge from the “mouth” of the ageless, genderless, limbless robo-baby seems like a waking nightmare.

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  • Sharks182

    KILL IT WITH FIRE!
    The robot should have been right between the flame-thrower and fire extinguisher that are over the 'tubes lately.

  • justagirl

    subtitles would be helpful.

  • :)

    Casper!!!

  • GoodDoktorBad

    ” I think I'm turning Japanese……… I really think so….”

  • http://michaelbix.livejournal.com/ michaelbix

    This is such a throw-back! DARPA's oldest and most bizarre experiment with communication between bunkered military commanders in a post-nuclear holocaust was to photograph the facial expressions of every one of its key commanders along with mouth positions, and then project those “appropriate emotions” on a back projection screen inside a dummy head. At the time land-line phones were presumed to be the only surviving interface after EMP, so the “triggers” in conversation that a facial gesture was to be displayed with a simple analog code like MIDI. The model “face” moved along with the land-line phone conversation – and each party saw the other's face displayed “just like REAL life.” Cold comfort after a nuclear war.

  • http://michaelbix.livejournal.com/ michaelbix

    DARPA – Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency – amongst other things they invented the first version of the Internet.

  • Polymorph Legion

    creepy lookin…

  • RR

    I kind of like it :)

  • APR

    Rule 34 comes to mind …

  • TedSumrall

    While this may be disturbing, this is Japan's answer to solving the looming lack of a younger generation to do the menial labor that Japanese used to do themselves. This they feel is far better than massive immigration which is only a short term fix and itself presents a far greater long term burden on society.

    This is a de facto situation that actually create most of the opportunities for immigrants who want to work in places classified as 3K (kitanai = dirty, kistui = physically hard, kiken = dangerous). Therefore, you will find many people from South East Asia, Iran, Turkey, the South Americas who work in construction, food packaging industries, metal foundries, etc. Theodore (Ted) Sumrall

  • Brave90

    ..Well if they design the robot in the shape of loli….

  • someone

    This would be improved if there was a digital overlay of the person their talking too. Facial and whatnot.

  • Dkkauwe

    cool and creepy :)

  • Sage

    Why is that creepy? I think it's adorable, clever, and reminds me of Casper. :3

  • Judith

    wew! Japan's creations never failed to amaze me. I've seen this again. Always bow down to their technology.

    http://www.ghostwriting.com.au

  • Amourdutigre

    I think that they should make this in the image of Subaru Sumeragi… I would buy one tomorrow if they did…

  • Southwest3210

    With the social DIS-communication on Facebook, and the yearly step away from face-to-face communication, perhaps we can plop “Casper” on the laptop, as we chat and post notes on walls on FB…this might soon be about as close as we come to human interaction….can we french-kiss the head during internet/chat sex, or utilize the head for worse uses per the same?….

  • Trashyard1000

    When the robot goes on line, it might be a juicy target for hackers.

  • Trashyard1000

    When the robot goes on line, it might be a juicy target for hackers.

  • ComaToast

    A small projector would be a big improvement and cost very little. We need flexible, stretchable, bendable spankable LCD, Plasma, LED or something! Then we will have real 3d TVs and creepy robots that look like everyone we know, don’t know, or MIGHT KNOW!