Sdtrk: ‘Get closer’ by Valerie Dore

It must be Winter (not officially, as the Winter Solstice hasn’t taken place, but nevertheless), as I’m currently losing my voice and fighting a flu with my bare hands. In between extended seven-hour naps, however, I managed to nominate the original version of Actroid, ReplieeQ1-san, to Carnegie Mellon’s Robot Hall of Fame.

A vote for Actroid is a vote for a Sexy Future

It seems that they hold induction ceremonies every two years, and I’d missed the one for this year. The nominees can include both real and fictional robots, such as Osamu Tezuka’s titular Astro Boy (inducted 2004), and Sony’s late-lamented AIBO (added 2006).

Here’s hoping that a) they choose to nominate Actroid-san, and b) the people will do the right thing and vote her in. Actroid in 2010!

Technorati tags: Carnegie Mellon, Robot Hall of Fame, Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy, AIBO, Actroid, ReplieeQ1, Android, Gynoid, robots

Sdtrk: ‘Ash on the trees (The sudden ebb of a diatribe)’ by Sunn O))) meets Nurse with wound

That’s right, another one already. But there’s a sackful of stuff to mention! Plus, there’s a synchronistic reason I’m posting this so soon after last month’s, which you’ll see at the end…

First, do you know German? Do you know a German, who coincidentally knows German? Tell them they should get to work and subtitle this videoclip that aired recently on the German documentary show, Polylux. Not just for your best friends Davecat and Sidore, but for all iDollators and curious parties. Yeah, altruism.

What, no tea for her?

RealDolls – wenn Männer Puppen lieben

The new dream women are called Melanie, Claudia or Annika. They are 1,65m largely, 50 Kilos heavily – and consist of silicone. Some men cannot live no more without it.
taken from this site

Someone ripped it to YouTube, but they only managed to get part of it, and YouTube pulled it a couple of hours later, due to copyright cockfighting. Not only does it feature Harald und Ramona above, who seem like a nice couple, but you get to see Deutsche iDollator Dollcaretaker spending time with his lovely ladies Annika and Melanie. Worth watching! But IT NEEDS ENGLISH SUBTITLES. I AM SERIOUS. Also, I need some way to get a copy of it. My demands are simple.

Now, for those of you who’ve been keeping up with Phoenix Studios Grande Masterplan, you’ll know that the March Boy Toy Doll is available. I can’t believe Miss Hyde scooped me on that. Clearly I’m losing my edge.

Does she taste minty, like a Shamrock shake? SOLD

Since the Dolls seem to be styled after what makes that particular month most memorable (December = Xmas, February = Valentine’s day, etc), I can’t wait to see Miss October. rrrRowr.

Also! According to a post by the good Technosexuals over at spurtBOT, they spotted an article from futurist and pro-Synthetik writer Richard Evans, wherein he interviews Hiroshi Ishiguro, the genius behind the Actroid series.

The professor is passionate about the duties of scientists and what they should achieve on behalf of the public, with public money – ‘we are here to continue research and to make a better world, not build and preserve our own small empires’. He is also a devoted father, and comes across as a complex character – pragmatic and direct. […] When questioned on funding, he explains that none of the lab’s money comes from the military, as Japan doesn’t have an army (only a self-defence force) – ‘so we are able to develop robots that help people, not hurt them’. It is perhaps telling that his favourite movie is Bicentennial Man, based on Isaac Asimov’s short story and starring Robin Williams. This tale of a robotic helper who wants to become human is key to Ishiguro’s vision of a future populated with robots that assist us and become useful members of society.
taken from this site

Also revealed in the interview is that David Hanson of Hanson Robotics will soon be joining forces with Ishiguro-san’s Osaka Labs, to work together on future projects. Pretty ace, I’d say…
While we’re on the topic of Synthetiks builders, whatever happened to Shunichi Mizuno? I remember seeing footage of his sexy Marilyn Monroe Gynoid on an episode of ‘Ripley’s Believe it or Not!’ ages ago, and the man seems to have disappeared entirely from existence. The way things are with contemporary artificial human development, he’s missing out on all the fun!

Japan has come forth with another new Doll manufacturer: Fivestars Laboratory Inc. To be honest, they’re not really new, as I recall seeing their name on teh Internuts before, but their new product, the Dollche series of 1/1 scale ball-joint Dolls, is rather attention-getting.

She’s got good guitar-playing fingers

Their Type 910 model boasts 55 movable joints, and stands at 147 cm, with measurements of B.33 / W.20 / H.30. Hrrm, tiny. And despite all those measurements listed, they don’t say how much they weigh…
Even though the site has a fair amount of English (heh, ‘Engrish’), they don’t seem to offer their product for sale outside Japan. At which point, I suppose you’d get on the horn to your favourite deputy service, and start working out some arrangements…

You can view a rather Hideaki Anno-esque promotional film on Dollche’s YouTube page. Personally, they’re too small, and I find their features are a bit too Doll-like — which may seem a strange epithet coming from me, but I can’t say I’m too keen on the eyes, as they’re a wee bit too stylised for my tastes. However, this isn’t to say that I don’t like the Dollche series as an idea. But that’s a given, really. 1/1 scale ball-joint Dolls? That sort of concept hasn’t been in use since Hans Bellmer made his lasses!

And speaking of Bellmer, today would’ve been his 106th birthday! (Yes, I still have to write an extended post about the man, don’t remind me.) Here’s to one of the more famous iDollators in history! Thanks to his unique and somewhat pervy Surrealist vision, he’s gained a certain immortality

ADDENDUM (16 March): Ask and ye shall receive: an alert reader in Germany wrote up a translation to the Harald und Ramona segment mentioned above. Check it out in the Comments section!

Sdtrk: ‘Jinxed’ by The Aluminum group

Well, I for one am certainly encouraged!

Robot woman encourages turnout for local elections in Yokohama
Mainichi Daily News | April 9, 2007

YOKOHAMA — A humanoid robot designed to look like a young woman was a popular attraction at a department store here on Thursday as it called for voters to participate in nationwide local government elections.

The robot, named Actroid, appeared in front of the Sogo Department Store in Yokohama’s Nishi-ku.

The Yokohama Municipal Election Administration Commission planned the robot display to educate voters, as turnout for the unified local elections in Yokohama has not exceeded 50 percent since the start of the Heisei era in 1989.

The robot’s eyes and mouth move, along with its cheek muscles, and it even has veins in its legs to make it look real. The robot left at least one customer tying to sort out whether or not it was a real person.

“It’s a real human, isn’t it?” the customer asked.

Hopefully voters won’t have as much trouble sorting out the candidates during election time.

Hell, get me round to Yokohama; I’ll vote for whoever had the foresight to employ her.
That’s how they’ll get all of us Technosexuals — the worst party to vote for in the world will say ‘Hey, vote for us! We have Androids and Gynoids!’ and we’ll be like ‘Fuck yeah, there’s Gynoids at the polling booths WOOO’, and months after that party has won, we’ll all be made into Soylent Green or something similar. ‘Know your voters’ is the lesson to be learned here…

Not to harp on this point, but someone please put her in sandals and get some pics, even if it’s just for one day! If I can’t see how her feet look at least once, I will be vastly disappointed in the Universe

Technorati tags: Actroid, Repliee, Android, Gynoid, Technosexual

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: ‘Perdoa’ by Vanusa

So I’m sure by now everyone and their gran knows about Actroid-chan’s appearance at the Wired Nextfest, right? Yes, yes. But then, Pink Tentacle mentions today that a new, improved version has been assembled. Sweet slow-roasted christ, she’s even cuter the previous model, if that’s even physically possible.

‘No, I was never in Morning musume, although they did ask me once’

Actroid DER2 fembot loves Hello Kitty
Kokoro, a Sanrio Group company specializing in the design and manufacture of robots, unveiled its new Actroid DER2 feminine guide robot at Sanrio headquarters in Tokyo on October 4.

Actroid DER2 is an upgraded version of Kokoro’s previous fembot, Actroid DER, who has made quite a name for herself by providing services at a number of events, including the 2005 World Expo. Compared to the previous model, DER2 has thinner arms and a wider repertoire of expressions. The smoothness of her movement has also been improved, making it now even more likely for the uninitiated to confuse her with an actual human being. (emphasis mine)

Actroid’s limbs, torso and facial expressions are controlled by a system of actuators powered by pneumatic pressure. Once programmed, she is able to choreograph her motions and gestures with her voice.

Kokoro intends to rent Actroid DER2 to companies and events. The basic rental fee is expected to be 400,000 yen (US $3,500) for 5 days, plus extra fees for technical support, delivery and choreography changes. For those who can’t cope with a sayonara after 5 days, there is a late fee of 80,000 yen per day.

[Source: Fuji Sankei]

That statement I’d emphasised is extraordinarily encouraging — her movements are even closer to Organiks. That’s the benefits of an upgrade for you. Will we actually see Androids and Gynoids in society within the next decade or two? I’d say ‘I certainly hope so,’ but you’d expect me to say that. In the interim, MUST. FIND. VIDEOS. NOW.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go register myself as a company, and scrape up $3500. I’ve, err, gotta buy some gum, you see — I like to stock up

ADDENDUM (9.14pm): Pics and video clips found, courtesy of Robot Watch. My goodness, she’s definitely got Cuteness Appeal, no question

Technorati tags: Actroid, Repliee, Gynoid, Android, Wired Nextfest, Sanrio

Posted in Actroid-chan, HRP-4C, and other Gynoids, Synthetiks | 3 comments »