Best idol singer EveR
typed for your pleasure on 5 January 2007, at 2.35 pmSdtrk: ‘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, 2006Korean 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
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January 6th, 2007 at 5.04 am
observation : when i read your blog, i feel like i’m reading a cyberhero’s journal. 🙂
that of course is a compliment. i love cyberhero’s/
Question : ever read Idoru? or anything by William Gibson?
I’m sure you’ll love it.
and by the way, saving money is always a good think, or at least so they say.
Happy New Year!
Camilla
January 6th, 2007 at 3.58 pm
Camilla –
A cyberhero, eh? Does this mean I get to rescue people from burning spam filters? Or perhaps reroute dangerous IP packets? I.. I have no idea what that phrase means.
Seriously, you probably can’t see from where you’re at, but I’m blushing. Thanks. 🙂 Glad you’re enjoying the end product!
I’ve never actually read a single Gibson story all the way through, to be honest — I’m not gonna be like Billy Idol, and lie that I have — but perhaps one day I shall! All told, I prefer my future less dystopian and more retro-optimistic — less ‘Johnny Mnemonic’ and more ‘2001: a space odyssey’ — but nevertheless!
And saving money for a Gynoid is a great idea, but if I was too early of an early adopter, I’d probably have a fully-autonomous and conversation-capable version of Actroid, but she’d weigh 200 lbs. Much like the very first VCRs. 🙂
And a very Happy New year to you as well!
January 7th, 2007 at 10.10 am
I must say that i agree with you. i also prefer my future less dystopian and Gibson’s world it is indeed violent and dark.
2001 : a space odyssey, what a great film! 🙂
and since we’re chatting about science fiction, another favourite is Solaris by Tarkowski. a must see or a must read because the book is brilliant as well…
January 8th, 2007 at 2.34 am
Ah, Solaris: the bizarro Russian 2001. 🙂 I saw it once (the original, not the Clooneyfied version); I liked what I saw, but I’d have to watch it again. I recall that opening theme being deliciously haunting as all hell, though…
Are you familiar with the live-action works of Gerry Anderson, particularly UFO? That’s my ideal utopia right there.
But with more Gynoids, of course. 😉
January 9th, 2007 at 12.14 am
I want the one with the translucent skin! And lights inside!
You should start SAVING now, just don’t plan on buying one until the 3.1 version goes gold. You’ll need the extra time to save up the cash anyway.
January 9th, 2007 at 1.43 am
HA! ‘Goes gold’.
As long as they don’t stick her with the equivalent of when PS2 game titles get shifted to their Greatest Hits series, and they receive ‘the red badge of shame’ sticker at the top.
January 9th, 2007 at 4.01 pm
davecat, no i didn’t know UFO. by a quick look at the pics i like it. it’s stylish. 🙂
thanks for recommending.
about Solaris, the clooneyfied version (lol!) as you very well pointed, it’s crap. Tarkowski’s films are brilliant, you might fall asleep while you’re watching it though…hehe
the book is by Stanislav Lem and it’s one of my favourites.
link (i have no idea how to post it properly, sorry :/ )
http://www.lem.pl/
January 11th, 2007 at 12.41 am
Hey, thanks for the Stanislaw Lem link! It has been duly bookmarked. 🙂
I had no idea he passed away last year! And despite the fact that he never actually saw the Solaris remake, he didn’t sound too thrilled about it.
‘The book ends in a romantic‑tragic way […] the Soderbergh movie supposedly has a different, more optimistic finale. If this were the case this would signify a concession to the stereotypes of American thinking regarding science fiction. It seems that these deep, concrete ruts of thinking cannot be avoided: either there is a happy ending or a space catastrophe.’
Well, I can’t say that I disagree with him…
January 13th, 2007 at 11.41 pm
“American thinking regarding science fiction”
Fuck him for judging an entire genre of literature by the loose standards of popular film.