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Jun 02 2007 87 Comments

Robotic realism?

With Japan’s birth rate still worryingly low, the powers that be may not thank the Japan Science and Technology Agency for the unveiling its new humanoid robot last week.

An event that saw the organisation proudly showing off a 33-kilogramme effigy that can make facial expressions, react to its surroundings by blinking and stand up with assistance. Giving it a set of skills and abilities that its maker claims allows CB2 (Child-Robot with Biometric Body) to emulate the physical abilities of a 1- or 2-year-old toddler.

The only problem being that unlike the real thing, CB2 is neither comical nor cute — far from it in fact.

Japanese robot baby CB2

The not so little fella’s freakishly real — and at the same time not real — features quite possibly putting people off having kids forever.

Japanese robot baby CB2

Although that said, his (or indeed her) loving look up at its ‘father’ is possibly enough to melt even the coldest of hearts.

Japanese robot baby CB2

Perhaps.

Japanese robot baby CB2

Update: Very unsettling video reports.

Categorized: Technology Stuff

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. debs says

    6/2/2007 at 3:03 pm

    No, I agree. He’s not exactly cuddly!!

    Reply
  2. sgwavesurfer says

    6/2/2007 at 5:24 pm

    A robot like this can never replace a real child! Far from it!

    Reply
  3. AS says

    6/3/2007 at 2:15 am

    Freaky…jus freaky…it reminds me of those old movies about the moving dolls except that was fake and this is real. It just freaks me out, I keep imagining a hundred of these everywhere…freaky

    Reply
  4. ewillyp says

    6/3/2007 at 4:16 am

    i’d much rather that child than a real one
    at least it wont have to worry about global warming
    and
    it’ll be able to charge up your electric car for you

    Reply
  5. Firstname Lastname says

    6/3/2007 at 4:31 am

    Imaging waking up and finding thirty of these things standing around in your bedroom, staring at you. I think I’d have a heart attack and die right there.

    Reply
  6. Hoax It's a HOAX! says

    6/3/2007 at 4:50 am

    It’s a HOAX, people. When it’s laying down, it’s a cable-controlled robot. When it’s standing up and walking IT’S A KID IN A SUIT.

    Notice they ONLY give you video of it on a table, prone, or sitting up…NOT WALKING. Only a still is provided of it walking.

    The silicone suit it wears is *just what you would fashion to fit a human*…and too heavy to put on an actual robot.

    HOOOOOOOOOOOOAX!

    Reply
  7. Wayne says

    6/3/2007 at 7:27 am

    Imagine this technology on my realdoll, 2011, can’t wait.

    Reply
  8. Terry says

    6/3/2007 at 10:50 am

    I applaud the Japanese for their work in advanced robotics, no matter how aesthetically unpleasing.

    Much like the most sophistocated airplanes or automobiles in the early part of the 20th century that looked and performed far below even the average counterpart of today…
    by the end of the 21st century, robots will not only look and act human, they will be doing things far ahead of average human capabilities.

    I am glad Japan is endevoring in this work, and that they are a good friend of US.

    Reply
  9. mesohorny says

    6/3/2007 at 2:31 pm

    When will they make a porn star robot that gives good hummers?

    I would buy that.

    Reply
  10. Stephen Wright says

    6/3/2007 at 5:42 pm

    Way over rated – not very good really. The I-Robot characters were a lot more convincing.

    Reply
  11. Bonkonko says

    6/3/2007 at 7:05 pm

    This Is Real Good News!!

    Now Pedofiles have something to play with :P!!

    Reply
  12. Bunny says

    6/3/2007 at 8:24 pm

    Wow! They’ve really done a great job in creating a simulation of a raver at a London club, high on Ecstasy! That is incredible.

    Reply
  13. Rich says

    6/4/2007 at 2:46 am

    There has got to be a kid or small adult inside that suit. There is absolutely no way that is all done with robotics. NO way.

    Reply
  14. Bill says

    6/4/2007 at 7:28 am

    Video not playing.

    Reply
  15. Irek says

    6/4/2007 at 7:55 pm

    Hi!
    Nice job!

    I.

    Reply
  16. cartufer says

    6/5/2007 at 9:29 am

    lol, next generation sex dolls … but not as babies …

    Reply
  17. openedsource says

    6/5/2007 at 9:57 am

    How terrifying! It looks like the bastard spawn of Bibendum, the Michelin Man.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelin

    Reply
  18. bud says

    6/5/2007 at 11:36 am

    So is there some sort of self learning AI? Is that the point? To see if a robot program given certain restraints, might develop to a certain level?
    Or differently?

    Or is it all programmed? In which case maybe it is just a larger prototype for a betsy wetsy type doll, that might recognize its owner.
    Doctor Frankenstein worked large to keep it easier to check under the hood.

    Reply
  19. tastybrains says

    6/5/2007 at 12:44 pm

    I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks this is completely fake. It looks like a person in a costume. It acts like a person in a costume. I bet it even smells like a person in a costume.

    It would be more disturbing if it weren’t so stupid.

    Reply
  20. Jomy says

    6/5/2007 at 1:21 pm

    When you change it’s diaper, is it full of nuts, bolts, wires, and diodes?

    Reply
  21. who cares says

    6/5/2007 at 2:48 pm

    KILL IT! KILL IT NOW!

    Reply
  22. time says

    6/5/2007 at 5:40 pm

    Well for the creapy part it’s maybe time to develope some consumer EMP’s.

    On the other hand I prefer seeing people spend money on project like these than spending money on wapons and war.

    Just my 2 cents

    Reply
  23. time says

    6/5/2007 at 5:40 pm

    Well for the creapy part it’s maybe time to devlope some consumer EMP’s.

    On the other hand I prefer seeing people spend money on project like these than spending money on wapons and war.

    Just my 2 cents

    Reply
  24. bleh says

    6/5/2007 at 5:49 pm

    It’s just a poorly designed animatronic puppet. The thing has a great big cable coming out of its back.

    Reply
  25. Hamish MacDonald says

    6/5/2007 at 9:23 pm

    What’s with this seeming Japanese cultural preference for the synthetic over the actual? There already *are* children — and some of us don’t find them particularly charming.

    In terms of lifelikeness, this thing seems severely learning-disabled; I’m not sure what function its rolling about on a table and pointless baby vocalisations serve. I certainly wouldn’t count that as “company”.

    If anything, this rubber golem makes me realise how cool dogs are.

    Reply
  26. get a life says

    6/5/2007 at 11:16 pm

    jesus people. if you don’t understand anything about robotics, shut the hell up. YES, it has cables coming out of its back– because we don’t have power systems small enough to fit inside a self-contained robot, so the power plant has to be elsewhere on the other end of the umbilicus.

    And to the “HOOOOOAAAAAX” guy– you’re just onemore of the massive cavalcade of people on the internet who think they know more than they really do.

    Reply
  27. IhateDesign says

    6/6/2007 at 1:31 am

    creepy, i dont have words, its just creeepy!

    Reply
  28. Name (required) says

    6/6/2007 at 1:36 am

    To all those who think it’s a person-in-a-suit hoax: If I were going to perpetrate such a hoax, I would certainly have it do something a bit more impressive than flail about uselessly, move its head and eyes side to side and… quack.

    Reply
  29. Name (required) says

    6/6/2007 at 1:41 am

    To all those who think it’s a person-in-a-suit hoax: If I were going to perpetrate such a hoax, I would certainly have it do something a bit more amazing than flail about uselessly, move its head and eyes side to side and… quack.

    But I guess as a prototype, it is mildly impressive in the smoothness of its motion and its reaction to stimuli…. as ineffectual and pointless as those reactions may be at this point.

    Reply
  30. sarah says

    6/6/2007 at 2:08 am

    I actually found it way less disturbing than this headless robot quadruped.

    Reply
  31. The Nanny says

    6/6/2007 at 5:23 am

    At least his diaper does not smell!!
    I like it!

    They should make his eyes more friendly.
    I also would like to see more AI instead of animatronics.

    Reply
  32. JM Bell says

    6/6/2007 at 8:18 am

    SkyNET Skin Job – spooky

    Reply
  33. mikeg says

    6/6/2007 at 9:30 am

    It looks like they are experimenting with artificial intelligence based on the idea that for an ‘artificial brain’ in order to learn, it should experience the outside word the same way a child would. ?
    Just a thought.

    Reply
  34. p5 says

    6/6/2007 at 8:36 pm

    this reminds me of “Rubber Johnny” by Chris Cunningham

    Reply
  35. mylemonblue says

    6/6/2007 at 9:05 pm

    “63mikeg

    It looks like they are experimenting with artificial intelligence based on the idea that for an ‘artificial brain’ in order to learn, it should experience the outside word the same way a child would. ?
    Just a thought.”

    Bingo! Great thought!
    An A.I. can’t think like a human without a body that gives it the ability to learn like a human. It needs the same types of inputs. ^_^

    Reply
  36. whatRU says

    6/7/2007 at 2:52 am

    Freaky two fingered hands!

    Reply
  37. Francisco Javier says

    6/7/2007 at 11:09 am

    That’s just an abomination and a waste of money and genious. A person who needs an animatronic monster-doll to pose as an adopted son is a person with serious personal issues or maybe mental illnesses.
    That sort of technology could be used to make androids to make humans life easier but not as emotional simulators. Did anyone though what a pedophile could make with that thing????.

    Reply
  38. PeBa says

    6/8/2007 at 4:29 am

    Thats serious shit.

    Reply
  39. argentino says

    6/11/2007 at 12:05 pm

    ese robot se parece a mi hermano….

    ess un asco

    Reply
  40. Russian president says

    6/16/2007 at 3:19 pm

    Dumb Cowboy! Why decussate give a human face? What do think? Each, human cattle, especially the Japanese just kills me. Do you have a miracle of nature, Zen, and you are garbage

    Reply
  41. Robert McLendon says

    6/16/2007 at 4:57 pm

    It’s not a hoax, you idiot. It doesn’t walk, they don’t even CLAIM that it walks. It can’t even really stand up on its own, the guy has to help it. I really can’t understand most people’s responses to this. Why does it freak you out so much?

    Reply
  42. Robert McLendon says

    6/16/2007 at 4:59 pm

    It’s not a hoax, you idiot. It doesn’t walk, they don’t even CLAIM that it walks. It can’t even really stand up on its own, the guy has to help it. I really can’t understand most people’s responses to this. Why does it freak you out so much? Also, to the moron who said it was an abomination: they didn’t built it to act as anyone’s adopted son. Why don’t you try reading the news article? They built it to help study child development. F*&ing idiots.

    Reply
  43. jomabu says

    8/20/2007 at 8:52 am

    The Autons are here!

    Take cover!

    Reply
  44. retro says

    11/2/2007 at 1:04 am

    I just love the classics!

    Reply
  45. jason says

    12/19/2007 at 5:15 am

    I don’t think hes quite in the ‘uncanny valley’ – more like a large doll?

    Reply

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