Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:31:09 +0100
From: "Luisa Schädler"
To: bnericci@mail.sdsu.edu
Hi obscene machinesters, while surfing in the net I found more of those creepy but fascinating video clips of actroids (those human-like robots created by Japenese scientists as mentioned on the blog before)
and, get this, you can even rent them :) see you,
Luisa Schädler
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Another obscene machinester writes in with a tip!
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em... i went onto the link that talked about how you can rent the robot and i found it very creepy. i felt like they were selling the robot as if it were a prostitute emphasizing that it was a very ahrd worker and had many different outfits you could choose from. i find it all just creepy. at time you can tell that it isn't a real person the hands look to rubbery and the voice definately give it away but if it were either not to talk or have a better voice over done then i could see it passing as a real person. scary how these things could soon or presently function like "normal" people. soon they will take over the world...
ReplyDelete-Denise Leyva
i clicked on the linkt hat said how people could rent the robots for a decient price and i find it all very creepy. it seems as if its an ad and they are sealing a prostitute or something. they emphasis how good of a worker the robot is and how you can choose from many different outfits to put it in. it just creeps me out plus the fact that the robot explains why she is slender. robots are freaking me out now with this class because it feels like soon they are gonna take voer the world with the technological advancements that are being placed inside of them. but the robots hands were too rubbery and the voice definately made it unrealistic.
ReplyDelete-denise leyva
i clicked on the linkt hat said how people could rent the robots for a decient price and i find it all very creepy. it seems as if its an ad and they are sealing a prostitute or something. they emphasis how good of a worker the robot is and how you can choose from many different outfits to put it in. it just creeps me out plus the fact that the robot explains why she is slender. robots are freaking me out now with this class because it feels like soon they are gonna take voer the world with the technological advancements that are being placed inside of them. but the robots hands were too rubbery and the voice definately made it unrealistic.
ReplyDelete-denise leyva
wow, so the video we watched in class last wednesday seemed very childlike, innocent, and beautiful to watch. But this video did see creepy to me. The skin seemed so unblemished and porcelain-like. I especially did not like how the voice reminded me of Disneyland's Star Tours (or like R2D2). I think renting one would be kind of pointless, unless you are a geek and get your kicks from speaking, moving, cold machines. I definitely enjoyed the puppet a lot more. I think by the end of this class i am going to be sick of robots.
ReplyDeletewow, so the video we watched in class last wednesday seemed very childlike, innocent, and beautiful to watch. But this video did see creepy to me. The skin seemed so unblemished and porcelain-like. I especially did not like how the voice reminded me of Disneyland's Star Tours (or like R2D2). I think renting one would be kind of pointless, unless you are a geek and get your kicks from speaking, moving, cold machines. I definitely enjoyed the puppet a lot more. I think by the end of this class i am going to be sick of robots.
ReplyDelete-Shane Leach
With these Mexican dolls it is obvious the creators want to disassociate them with everything but Mexican and Latinos. And they do it in a negative aspect such is the dark purple Tria was talking about. What I don’t understand is why the negative connotation even with the children? They have no tact and the need to deliberately cut down all Latinos with one doll or pinup. Over the course of this class I want to understand why this is happening, what hallucinations are these people having?
ReplyDelete-Ian Mills
I thought that this video of a robot was very interesting. To me it honestly looked like a giant Barbie doll. The skin just seemed so rubbery especially on the face and the hands, similar to what I remember playing with as a child, and the proportions also seemed unlifelike. In contrast to the giant puppet girl we watched lost week whose eyes were so expressive, the eyes on this robot seemed hollow and emotionless. Now I have no idea where this robot was on display but I also found it interesting that she spoke English and her mouth just seemed to move up and down.
ReplyDelete-Brenda Geary
When I watched this clip I was amazed and freaked out at how real this robot looked. I went to the website because I could not believe that anyone could rent these crazy thigns. At first I was thinking how pointless would it be to rent a robot, but then I thought some more and realized these things could replace a lot of jobs in our society (scary thought!). My first example would be tourist sites. You know how when you go on vacation you can get a guide to tell you all about a place? They could just plant these robats at the sites and program them with things to say and bam... no more paying guides to do the talking.
ReplyDeleteI went on the site about renting the robots--weird. But I have to say I could see them being useful. I could see them helping with cleaning or folding laundry.
ReplyDeleteThey also would be good for seating patrons at an eatery or greeting people in a hotel. The bad part of this is the lack of jobs for real people. But, I did think they were pretty interesting and well made.
The fact that you can actually rent this doll is one of the most bizzare things i have ever heard. it reminds me of those life size dolls they used to advertize for on tv when i was 5 or 6. you could dress them up and play with their hair. at that time, i thought that was one of the coolest concepts ever. now i find it really creepy. it bothered me how convincing the robot's little speech was that she was so real but if you looked at her, she looked incredibly fake. i was going back and forth with whether or not to think she was realistic at all. im so boggled by this whole concept because im not sure whether i should think this is funny, creepy, scary, or if i should feel anything at all towards something thats not even alive. ahh. - alexandra barreneche
ReplyDeleteI hate the robot. It really creeps me out. The worst part is that it's possible to rent one. What kind of person would want to rent a robot? What would you do with it? Instead of having to ask a girl out for a date, you could just rent a robot I suppose.
ReplyDeleterose lacey
I think the most interesting part about this is that you can actually rent them. To think there's a market for robotic asian women. Maybe 10 years from now owning one of these will be just as easy as subscribing to netflix. It's fascinating that someone would be so...well fascinated...and entertained by a heap of metal and rubber to rent one. I guess flashing back to my days watching Aladdin and the Lion King, I understand how easy it is to get lost in a fictional story (to envy a girl named Jasmine), and that was through the television. If I could have cartoon Aladdin in my living room for a small fee, I probably would rent one too.
ReplyDeleteCeleste Diaz
English 493
My question is why the creators of the robot and, I suppose, we as a society are so concerned with making the robot look as life-like as possible. I'm all for the possibility of robots that do jobs I don't want to - I can't wait until I can afford a Roomba - but I don't need them to look like a person. It makes me wonder if in this age where people meet and have whole relationships via the internet and technology in general, have we gotten to the point that we'd rather interact with a machine than an actual person? What is this robot really good for other than eventually becoming some sort of covert military tool or an extreme sex toy? And how sad is the person who saves up to buy this kind of companion rather than going out to meet a real person?
ReplyDelete-Heather Galan
Isn’t it ironic that all of these Japanese robots are women? These fem-bots seem to reaffirm the stereotypes that Edward Said, in “Orientalism,” and David Henry Hwang, in M. Butterfly, and many others challenge us to question. The website states that “Working ‘ACTRIOD’ is a very busy girl.” And look! You can even change her clothes . . . depending on your personal fetish: office woman, “beautiful lady at bar in attractive and sedate [!] Chinese dress,” information attendant, pro-Japan ambassador, nurse, “Miss Plush” or “Miss pilgrimage.” Sure, the technology is interesting – but haven’t we come farther than this?
ReplyDeleteWalt Disney is rolling in his grave right now... well either that or quite excited.
ReplyDeleteIt seems (with the comments above as a solid example) that the closer our creations mimic reality, the more threatened we are by them. Many credit the "floppage" of the movie "The Polar Express" to its overly realistic computer graphics.
I heard somewhere that the success in Pixar films has come from distancing the CG characters from being too lifelike, so as to retain their aura of fantasy. I suppose the simplification and exaggeration helps to retain the precious distance between fact and fantasy. - Jennifer Stopper
The first thing that gives this creature away as a facsmile is her mouth: it moves with an unnatural up-and-down motion without lip articulation. Interestingly enough, this functions as a visual example of the robot's argument that "the slightest unnaturalness in... behavior and action" breaks the illusion.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note: when I checked out the link to the robot rental site I saw that the companu, Kokoro, is part of the Sanrio group. Looks like they've been up to more than Hello Kitty.
Saying this robotic doll looks like a real human is like saying Hello Kitty looks like a real cat. Somebody should tell the Sanrio Group that they're lacking in the realism department. Like everybody else, I do find it a little disturbing that people are able to rent her and do god-knows-what with her, but if they want to spend their money on a rentable "life-like" robot, its their decision. I wonder if they're ever going to make one that is a over-weight, balding, middle aged man who can smoke a cigar. I'd pay to rent that one...ohhh yeah! :)
ReplyDeleteI also love how her "dynamic action" is a pseudo karate-chop. When was the last time we needed to karate-chop anything?
-Allie del Mundo