Thursday, December 31, 2015

In the...

...history of somewhat iffy science fiction ideas, there's "Making a humanoid robot that looks exactly like you."

Doctor Sarton built R. Daneel Olivaw in The Caves of Steel and was then (spoilers for ancient book) murdered by an anti-robot fanatic who couldn't tell the difference.

Doctor Noonian Soong, creator of Data and Lore, was eventually killed by Lore.

So I'm not entirely sure what Swiss professor Nadia Thalmann was thinking when she created a humanoid robot receptionist named Nadine that, yup, looks exactly like her creator.

Supposedly she acts as if she has emotions and is a prototype for humanoid robots that might act as companions to the elderly, etc. She uses software similar to Apple's Siri. The pictures I can find all show her sitting down, so she's not a fully humanoid robot yet, but she doesn't look bad at all.

(I wonder if she's fully functional?)

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-31/singapore-university-creates-lifelike-robot-modelled-on-creator/7061286

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