New Robo toy with 38 sensors and realistic movment

[xxxtoytech]

I think he wants to play," Chung suggests, so I tentatively stroke the nubbly rubber skin on its back. It moos happily. A laptop on the kitchen table is monitoring Pleo's internal state. As I trigger the touch sensors embedded in the toy, its "arousal" numbers start rising: 16, 23, 27, 28. It's like a Matrix view of Pleo's subconscious. I poke its left leg, and it cranes its neck curiously to see what just happened. I'm impressed. This feels less like interacting with a piece of machinery and more like playing with a kitten.

See the full article about this toy in this month's Wired magazine or online at http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/alive.html. Nice.

There is also a festival of art, body and medicine coming to the University of Toronto in May.

Subtle Technologies is a four-day multidisciplinary Festival exploring complex and subtle relationships between art and science. The annual international event combines symposia, exhibitions, workshops and performances that juxtapose cutting-edge artistic projects and scientific exploration.

Of particular interest to members of this forum is the suggested categories of:

- Sexual / Gendered Body
- Body Machine Interfaces and Sensors

For more info see http://subtletechnologies.com/2007/

xxxtoytech

[timetraveler1]

i just watched the video and can really see the potention of these robotic sensors and possibly even the movement factor if placed into an android i can only hope this creator will have a hand in with some company to place this technology in an android and possibly even be able to create quit useful motors and gearing as he has done in past projects , which i beleive given enough rein and money , this guy could do it !!. although i like things made in the u.s.a. if labor was cheap enough and also the import parts a cheap android would sell like hot cakes expecially if it could be ordered with optional funtuality ... ah you know what i mean folks !!

[Stef]

It's fun, i want one

[Poet]

FX R U telling me I am going to be dancing with a 300 pound She Hulk?? If she steps on my toes I am going to blame U....... Poet

[timetraveler1]

hey you think thats bad getting stepped on your foot is the least of your problems , wait till she slaps you with those bionic metal tits !!

[xxxtoytech]

Hi all,
The problem is, of course, that developing this toy took time and money, something most doll makers don't have. They have a problem (or so it seems from reading posts on this forum) just in getting out the dolls people have ordered on time. And if what you're doing sells, where is the impetus to create cutting edge stuff? It's risky.

I do think that the first company that manages to put it all together will grab the market and make a ton of money.

One more interesting topic from Wired magazine, the problem with batteries see http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/battery.html. Most of the androids right now have HUGE power supplies (including the Korean one) and given the state of power supplies it will take quite a while to create a human sized untethered android.

xxxtoytech

[Poet]

IN all seriousness, despite the best efforts I think the only way that androids can replicate human size & movement & all aspects, power supplies is the key. The nuts & bolts & electronic means we have, money as well if funding is found.

The issue is power sources. And this IMO will be solved with some type of Boimechanical model that melds bionic tissue of some type with man made materials in a way that allows a sort of assimilation of growth & raw food for energy breakdowns much as we do in our own bodies via the krebs cycle & subtrate phosphoralization, breaking down sugars for energy source & creating byproducts such as ketones & other chemicals, tho more ketones via fat assimilation.

There has to be a union of 2 views, mechanical & physiological.....even battery cell generated power for cars etc utilizes more in raw fuel, pretroleum based consumption to create & maintain than they would ever save in long term usage & by products will facilitate a huge increase in the greenhouse effect. It's robbing Peter for Paul as they say.........

The key is to find a solution outside the 'box' as it were. Poet

[Keithallen]

You're right Poet, the PROBLEM is power : it takes alot of energy just to do simple functions with realativly heavy power supplies. Most likely, the first TRUE android will be cybornetic.
The only hope of a fully mechanical android is a power supply that the android can renew inside itself, does not weigh much, produces little heat but supplies at least 1KW. At the moment, no such incredibly efficient sourse of power exists.

[mytime]

Keithallen wrote:

You're right Poet, the PROBLEM is power : it takes alot of energy just to do simple functions with realativly heavy power supplies. Most likely, the first TRUE android will be cybornetic.
The only hope of a fully mechanical android is a power supply that the android can renew inside itself, does not weigh much, produces little heat but supplies at least 1KW. At the moment, no such incredibly efficient sourse of power exists.

Helen IX will contain a fuel sell, she simply needs drink 10 - 20 bottles destilated alcohol a day depending on her dayly activity's

Mytime & Helen

[deusbot]

There is one power source with the energy density. RTG's : Radioisotope thermoelectric generators. Of course they do use the R and N words, require special regulation, people with three letter names disapprove of you disposing of them in the trash, etc. etc. Used in space probes because you fill it up once and it lasts for decades. Literally. I think the last they heard of Pioneer 10 was 30 years after launch, and it was because our receivers aren't sensitive enough, not that its batteries had died.

One NASA spinoff that hasn't made it to the bedroom...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisoto ... _generator

Oh, and the little problem of if you strap a bomb vest on her she turns into an instant dirty bomb.

Life would be so much simpler if people were nicer...

[xxxtoytech]

Hi Deusbot,
The RTGs are still a problem in the former Soviet Union where these units powered lighthouses and remote weather stations. See http://www.bellona.no/bellona.org/engli ... ents/37598 for more info.

In the next few years I see tethered sex androids/dolls as a viable item. A couple of small cables for power and computer shouldn't cause major problems.

xxxtoytech

[timetraveler1]

hello xxxtoytech , although that would be the best solution i'm not sure if it will ever happen expecially a sex android reason , stupid people doing stupid stuff = lawsuits and lawyers making bookoo monies off of companies and inventers . the electric cord would in my opinion be the best bet too, but don't think it will happen with this type of a android.

[Stef]

There's a contest to win a Pleo
http://www.ugobe.com/essay_contest/contest_rules.html

The release of Pleo has been delayed until summer 07 btw.

[JackSalem]

That thing willl be expensive as hell. You'd definately be better off just getting a real pet.

[Stef]

A real pet (just like a real girl compared to a doll) will cost you more in the end.
This cute little thing don't eat, don't shit, don't get sick, don't ruin your house furnitures and you can switch it off when you want