the Return of the man-made Muse

typed for your pleasure on 28 December 2006, at 7.39 pm

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

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And EveR-2 Muse makes two

typed for your pleasure on 18 October 2006, at 3.01 pm

Sdtrk: ‘Degradation of tapes’ by Merzbow

Whilst scanning my Technorati faves today, I ran across something on a random Japanese site — KiTECH of Korea’s EveR-2 Muse is finally making the scene. In making a couple of enquiries on das InfoBahn, here’s what I came up with:


Looking a lot better than the previous model, I’d say

Korea’s Second Humanoid Robot to Sing for Fans

The world’s first celebrity robot Ever-2 Muse will soon make “her” public debut. Ever-2 will perform a new ballad titled “I’ll close my eyes” at the opening ceremony of Robot World 2006 at COEX on Wednesday, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said. The robot can be thought of as the little sister of Ever-1, which debuted on May 4 as the first domestic humanoid robot. Ever-2’s skin is produced with silicon. It has some 60 motors in the face (23), neck (three), arms (six each), hands (four each) and lower body (12), allowing a wide range of actions and expressions.

The robot can express 13 consonants and vowels and can not only lip-synch but can dance to music and hold “conversations” with fans. Since it senses colors and movement, it can respond based on the reactions of those nearby. Baeg Moon-hong, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, says Ever-1 with 35 motors was able to express the four emotions of happiness, sadness, excitement and anger, but Ever-2 can express eight, adding fright, discomfort, interest and boredom. Ever-2 is 165 cm-tall, 5 cm taller than its predecessor, and at 60 kg weighs 10 kg more.

Rock the hell on, Korea! This almost makes up for that whole nuke thing.
Surprisingly, Robot Watch doesn’t have anything on her yet, but I’m sure more info about her will be forthcoming. Watch this space!

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

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*shaking fist at Internets*

typed for your pleasure on 11 May 2006, at 9.50 pm

Sdtrk: ‘Choking on air’ by The ladybug transistor

YouTube and the current trend of using Shockwave-based video is both a boon and a curse. On the one hand, when you want to display a video, you don’t have to go through as much malarkey to do so — just upload the bastard to YouTube/Google video or wherever, pop a link on your site, and Bob’s your uncle. On the other hand, a lot of sites are doing away with providing downloadable video entirely, in favour of… well, uploading the bastard to YouTube/Google video or wherever. What about those of us who’d rather download the actual .avi or .mpg or what have you? Hm?
So this is my current problem: I’ve found a video of EveR-1 on Akihabara News, but of course, it’s in that damnable Shockwave format. I’ve got the link to the homepage of KITECH, EveR-1’s manufacturers, but everything’s in Korean. Crucial note: I know zero Korean. Do you see my problem? Do you?

[03.15.18 PM] safetinspector: Which would win in a fight? EveR-1 or Actroid-chan?
[03.16.28 PM] Leahtype23: Hrrm.. I’d have to go with EveR-1.. her arms are a little stiff. She probably has a good karate chop.
Unless we’re talking tickle fight, in which case, my money’s on Actroid-chan.

Next week: thrill to me bitching about sites that have Flash video image galleries, instead of proper downloadable .jpgs. 4woods, I’m looking in your direction

Technorati tags: EveR-1, Gynoid

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