Sdtrk: ‘La fille d’un garçon’ by France Gall

You notice that there were no entries for the ‘Any Doll / Synthetiks news, Davecat?’ series for January? Sorry about that. There was nothing to report, which was really a disappointment on all fronts. With any luck, there’ll be something a-stirring for February!
So in the interim, here’s a link to an article I spotted on a blog called Robot Gossip.
Yes yes; fingers on the pulse of, etc etc. Or was I just trawling Google for Gynoid articles? You make the call!

Diesel Sweeties

Another sign of the acceptance of robots showed up in newspapers across the country today.
The comic Diesel Sweeties is about a robot, Clango Cyclotron, with a human girlfriend. It has been appearing online since 2000 and is now syndicated in newspapers across the country.
In the Houston Chronicle, Diesel Sweeties replaces Momma. Granted Momma was never very funny, but it was about family. It was about a typical dysfunctional family, you know, the chronically unemployed grown son who neglects his aging mother until he needs money. The spiteful mother who drives her children away with sarcastic comments and passive-aggressive emotional traps. But it was about family!
This new comic promotes the robot agenda by ignoring the traditional family in favor of robot-human relationships.
the complete post is here

Plus, it pimps Diesel sweeties, which is a fine comic, a fine comic. Why aren’t you reading it right this very minute?? O.

And here’s a nice wee clip for a Japanese keitai (cellphone) company, starring who I think is Ayumi Hamasaki as a Gynoid. Not sure if it’s actually her, but if you’ve ever seen pics of her, you’d probably agree, as she brings bold new meaning to the term ‘manufactured idol singer’.

Why anyone would make a Synthetik that’s powered by a cellphone stored in her arm is beyond me, but *shrug*

Technorati tags: robot, Gynoid, Synthetik, Diesel Sweeties, Ayumi Hamasaki

Sdtrk: ‘Pan’s garden’ by Belbury Poly

FYI: three new video clips have been uploaded to Shi-chan’s Dailymotion page; some pervy, some not so much. But I regret not locating a really good karakuri video for her to post this month. As we start running out of Synthetiks clips, however, that might well change…

And I’m rather cranky that I still haven’t been able to procure a single video of the new and improved EveR-2 Muse. (This one doesn’t count, as that’s the old new and improved EveR-2 Muse.) *narrows eyes to flinty slits* Hangul, your angle-and-oval-based characters vex me.
In some aspects, life should be like a Flinstones cartoon; strike someone on the back of the head with a rolling pin, and suddenly, they know a foreign language, like Portuguese.

In the meantime, enjoy the videos! But I leave you with a sordid reminder of what we’re missing out on. Happy 23rd!

She still sings horrible pop shite, but she’s a Gynoid, so it’s more palatable

Sdtrk: ‘My little brother’ by Art brut

KITECH, Korean creators of the EveR series of Gynoids, have been making all sorts of ace statements recently! You can’t stop ’em!

Korea to Create Dancing Android
By Kim Tae-gyu, Staff Reporter | 29 November, 2006

Korean scientists are working on creating the first android capable of walking and dancing like an entertainer.

Baeg Moon-hong, who crafted the country’s first female androids (technically gynoids) called EveR-1 and EveR-2, Wednesday said that his team aims to develop a mobile model by 2010.

“Beginning next January, we plan to upgrade our EveR series to EveR-3 by 2008 and EveR-4 by 2010,’’ said Baeg, a senior researcher at the state-run Korea Institute of Industrial Technology.

“EveR-4 will be able to walk and dance as well as sing a song. Its intelligence will also substantially improve by then,’’ the 48-year-old said.

There are several humanoids that can move with a human-like gait, including Hubo of Korea and ASIMO of Japan, but scientists have yet to develop a walking android.

“Humanoids have thick legs because of the many modules, motors and actuators incorporated in them. Thick legs are OK for humanoids, but we must cram all of them into the thin legs of androids since the latter should look like real flesh and blood human beings,’’ Baeg said.
the rest of the article is here

I have to stop here and give a hearty thumbs-up to the reporter, for actually using the term ‘Gynoid’ in their article. Well done sir/madam! There’s quite a difference between Androids and Gynoids — mainly that Androids are designed to look like male Organik humans and Gynoids are modelled after female Organik humans — so it’s best to get used to using the proper terms now. After all, you wouldn’t call a young lass ‘mister’, would you? Unless, of course, you have poor eyesight. Or you’re utterly deranged.

If they can pull this off, that’ll be beyond amazing. Mechanical balancers are a tricky bit of business, however, and being able to put all of that machinery into a Synthetik and still have her retain a petite shape and weight (well, more than likely, the first proper Gynoids are probably going to be rather heavy — EveR-2 Muse clocks in at 135 lbs, and she doesn’t even walk) will be quite an accomplishment. Given their track record, KITECH should be able to do it, though. Unless Hiroshi Ishiguro and Kokoro Co. Ltd pull it off with Actroid-chan first, of course.

But think about it: in three years’ time, we might very well have mobile Synthetiks. Three years is really not that long of a timeframe. Granted, we’re not going to have Cherry 2000 right out of the gate, but as Sidore-chan would say, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was I’.
The fab thing with technological advances, particularly in this day and age, is that it takes relatively less and less time to move forward — for instance, it took less time to go from computers that used punchcards to the laptop that I’m typing this post on, than it did to get from the wheel to the first horseless carriage — that’s the phenomenon that futurist Ray Kurzweil calls ‘the Law of Accelerating Returns‘. I’ve known about this concept for a while; I just never knew it had a name. Note: must look more into this Kurzweil bloke… But the upshot of it is is now that we’ve had Gynoids since 2003 (the year Actroid Repliee made her debut), the developments will start to come more and more quickly, each subsequent iteration being better than the previous one.

Really, what it all boils down to is one very important question: Should I start saving up for a Gynoid now, or should I wait a couple of years?

Technorati tags: Android, Gynoid, EveR-1, EveR-2 Muse, KITECH, Actroid, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Kokoro, Ray Kurzweil

Sdtrk: ‘Rising sun’ by Merzbow

O, praise “Bob”, KITECH‘s remodeled EveR-2 Muse. Wow. Don’t call it a comeback, she’s been here for years…

‘What do you mean, I’m not allowed to sing anything other than K-pop??’

SEOUL, Korea (AVING) — ‘EveR-2 Muse’, designed by KITEC (Korea Institute of Industrial Technology), is the world’s first entertainer-robot. She had been first introduced last October and since then she even had ranked fourth with her first song on a certain website popularity poll.

Her skin is made of silicon material; 60 joints in her face, neck, and lower body enable her to demonstrate various facial expressions and some dance moves. She is 161cm tall and weighs 60kg, average figures of Korean women in their twenties.
(quote taken from here)

As an indie album title once put it: We have the facts and we’re voting Yes. Her upgrades from the previous EveR-1 version include an increase in height from 160 cm to 170 cm, improved CCD cameras for eyes, and silicone flesh that apparently covers her whole body. Is that a fact. *tugs at collar*
And speaking of her eyes; call me crazy, but I love EveR-2 Muse’s eyes — they look grey. You don’t see that too often in an eye colour, and that’s pretty unique. Unfortunately, her dress sense is still crap. Ah well; perhaps that’ll be her next upgrade.

KITECH, you have my approval, so keep up the good work! Just… mind her neck next time, eh?

Technorati tags: Android, Gynoid, EveR-1, EveR-2 Muse, KITECH

Sdtrk: ‘Do you love?’ by Final fantasy

Ahh, if only…

Beyonce Knowles Is An Actroid
Skirmisher.org | Saturday, December 9th, 2006

I’ve had the hots for Beyonce Knowles for as far as I could remember, and this recent “unmasking” of her real identity, proving that she isn’t human at all but in fact Kokoro’s much-touted advanced version of the Actroid DER2, doesn’t even damp my filthy enthusiasm.

Undoubtedly, she bolted backstage shortly afterwards to reattach her face, before it peeled right off. That’s quite alright! Sometimes that sort of thing occurs with older Gynoids; she can hardly be blamed. Underneath her silicone skin, she’s more than likely built like Kobalab‘s Android SAYA, as seen here.

See how there’s hardly any velcro up by the temples? That might explain why her face got all rumpled. Easily seen to, but understandably embarrassing when you’re out in public.

Don’t be ashamed, Beyonce! We all know that Gynoids are cool

Sdtrk: ‘Spring hall convert’ by Deerhunter

Considering eight out of the past ten posts for October were Synthetiks-related, giving this post that title was completely arbitrary. Sometimes that happens! I cannot explain it.

Anyway, big round of applause for China, as they’ve just joined the Synthetiks Race in earnest. It’s like the Arms Race, only much better for humanity. Sexier, too.

heh heh, ‘Maiden China’.
Sorry, there was no call for that

Chinese Blond Female Humanoid Robot unveiled

China displayed their robots at a robot show in early October. One of the biggest highlights of the show were the highly human-like robots.

However it is yet a little bit too early to dub these human copies as robots since their actions and abilities are way too limited. For instance, the female humanoid above only sings and moves her lips a little (that too in a highly robotic manner).

The Chinese robot, nicknamed ‘Dion’ does score a point above the Japanese Actroid female robot with respect to the body precisions and stats (though I do wish they’d given her better tresses), but I yet do find the latter cuter and more convincing than the Chinese one.
the rest of the article is here. CAUTION: POP-UP FEST ’99

I’d actually spotted this gorgeous creature last night on Robot Watch, but there wasn’t a tremendous amount of info on her. More accurately, there probably was a paragraph describing her somewhere, but since I can read only about five to eight per cent of the Japanese language on a good day, I was kinda at sea… However, I did find a brief video of her; remind me, and I’ll post it next month.

I’m figuring the robotics community of China came to the realisation that Rong Cheng, nice as she is, can’t hold a candle to Japan’s Favourite Daughter in terms of sophistication; hence Dion. She certainly looks tasty — in the video, she’s wearing sandals, which of course brought a huge pervy smile to my face — but her facial and body movement are a little stilted. They’re still working on the R&D, I’m sure.
Whoever this group is, they clearly need more funding! We need China to produce more Synthetiks like Dion, and less like.. *cough* Chuka-cannon.

I’d agree with the article writer though — she could stand to have a better hairstyle. But y’know who she slightly resembles? 4woods’ Chris-type of the A.I.NEO Doll series.

Tell me I’m wrong

Technorati tags: Dion, Gynoid, Android, robot, Actroid, Rong Cheng, China, 4woods, A.I.NEO