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FROM AP

Japan unveils humanoid robot that laughs and smiles (AFP) – 17 hours ago

OSAKA — Japanese researchers said Saturday they have developed a humanoid robot that can laugh and smile as it mimics a person's facial expressions.

The robot, Geminoid TMF, can move its rubber facial skin to imitate a smile, a laugh showing teeth, and a grim look with furrowed brows, by receiving electric signals from the person it is modelled on.

The researchers demonstrated with a robot made to look exactly like an attractive woman in her 20s with long dark hair. The woman and the robot were dressed in the same clothes - a black skirt and black leather jacket.

The robot smiled and furrowed its brow in almost simultaneous mimicry of the woman, whose face was filmed with a video camera which then provided information on her expressions to the robot through electric signals.

"I felt like I had a twin sister," the woman told reporters afterwards.

The developers said they expected the robot to be eventually used in real-life situations, for example in hospitals.

"We've already got some data showing that the robot gave patients psychological security by nodding and smiling at them, when patients were checked on by doctors," said Satoko Inoue, spokeswoman for Kokoro, one of the two companies involved in the development.

"A new technology always creates some fears and negative opinions," but the researchers wanted to make robots that could express something similar to human emotions, said Hiroshi Ishiguro, a professor at Osaka University who led the research.

Copies of the robot are expected to be sold for about 10 million yen (110,000 dollars), mainly to robotics research organisations, Ishiguro said, without giving a timeframe.

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From Popular science shills

A shortage of English teachers has compelled South Korea to take the next logical step and plan a $45 million rollout of robotic teaching assistants. That official go-ahead follows several months of robot trials, io9 says based on Korean news reports. But the idea of replacing old fashioned human English teachers has already stirred much debate.

The robotic teachers would deploy in 500 preschools by 2011, and 8,000 preschools and kindergartens by 2013. In the short run, that could help address the lack of English teachers in rural areas or remote islands. Learning English represents a necessary educational step for competitive South Korean students, and especially those aiming to study abroad at major universities in the U.S.

But South Korean robotics experts have already begun predicting that the bots could replace more than 30,000 native English teachers in Korea's language institutes within the not-so distant future, according to the Korea Times. Most of those teachers hail from the U.S., Canada, UK and Australia.

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From the Register (the source for tech news)
By Lewis Page

The march of the droids continues, with news emerging over the festive season that ordinary US Army line units - not special forces or temporary trial formations - will now consist partly of war robots and other digitally networked automated killware.

The revelations come with the announcement last week that the US Army's "Brigade Combat Team Modernisation" programme "Increment One" hardware and software will enter initial production as of "early 2010".

RegAd('mpu1', 'reg.science.4159/physics', 'pos=top;sz=336x280', VCs); google_protectAndRun("ads_core.google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad); This first tranche of modernisation to American combat brigades will see the deployment in every formation of the following items:

• The "Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle" crawler war-bot, capable of "infantry and special forces" operations in buildings, caves and tunnels. The SUGV is unarmed (though it can mount a laser range finder and a manipulator claw) but it has a bigger brother which can be fitted with a "Metal Storm" multibarrelled grenade launcher capable of loosing off a devastating fusillade of 16 high explosive warheads in a fraction of a second.

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From Serkan Toto of Crunchgear
We all knew this day would come and we all knew this would happen first in Japan. And local department store chain operator Sogo & Seibu is ready to make it possible: You can soon buy robots who look exactly like you. Right, life-size humanoids.

The company isn’t that sure about its idea though as it plans to offer just two robots for the time being. Sogo & Seibu says they’ll start accepting orders in all of their department stores in Japan as soon as early next month. But if there are three or more people interested in getting a robotic doppelgänger, buyers will be chosen by lot.

The robots are made of silicone and will be able to move their upper body. In addition, they’ll be able to “speak” to some extent (with your recorded voice, needless to say).

The robots will go on sale for $225,000 each. They’ll be manufactured by Kokoro, a company that caused a minor sensation with their realistic Androids that gave directions to visitors during the Aichi Expo in 2005.

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