Meet Roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro And His Robot Doppelgänger �� ishiguro �� doppelgänger

Angsuman Chakraborty ��

July 21st, 2006 �� 21st � 2006

�� ishiguro �� doppelganger Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro created a robot clone of himself. �� ishiguro �� . His incredibly lifelike mechanical double, "Geminoid HI-1," sometimes takes his place in meetings and classes. �� lifelike �� "geminoid �� - 1 �" �� .

Hiroshi Ishiguro, a senior researcher at ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories outside Kyoto, is a busy man. �� ishiguro � �� ATR �� . Between his two jobs, countless meetings and presentations, his demanding schedule was eating up all his time. �� . So he built an android version of himself to pick up the slack. �� .

The robot looks and moves exactly like him. �� . It sits on a chair and gazes around the room in a very humanlike fashion, just like Hiroshi. �� humanlike �� . It blinks and fidgets in its seat, moving its foot up and down restlessly, its shoulders rising gently as though it were breathing. �� . These micromovements are so convincing that it's hard to believe this is a machine — it seems more like a man wearing a rubber mask. �� micromovements �� -- �� . But a living, breathing man. �� .

Ishiguro's doppelgänger was made from casts taken from his own body. Ishiguro 'sdoppelgänger �� . Powered by pressurized air and small actuators, it runs on semiautonomous motion programs. �� semiautonomous ��.

Geminoid can be operated remotely so the robot reproduces the voice, posture and lip movements of Ishiguro, who wears a motion-capture system. Geminoid �� ishiguro � �� - �� . A mouseclick raises a hand or finger. � mouseclick �� .

Ishiguro, whose job is teaching at Osaka University, an hour's drive away, designed Geminoid so he could "robot in" to his classes and skip the commute. Ishiguro � �� geminoid "��" �� . As he steps out from behind a curtain like the Wizard of Oz, standing beside his robot self, the shift is disconcerting. �� .
via �� Wired ��

I wish I could get a �� clone of myself �� , several in fact. � �� . Hiroshi's research will hopefully give us more insight into what gives a human his illusive presence. �� illusive �� . Geminoid HI-1 already has palpable gravitas but it isn't Data (from Star Trek) yet, not by a long shot. Geminoid �� - 1 �� gravitas �� (�� ) �� .