Repliee Q1

The more advanced engineers get with robotics, the more complex the gears and pistons and rods and sensors get, the more we seem to want to slap human skin on the outside. Meet Repliee Q1: she's a pleasant Japanese woman, adorned in slacks and casual salmon blazer. And look, she's even extending her hand to shake yours. Seems lovely, until you remember Repliee Q1 isn't a woman at all, and was unveiled at a Japanese tech exhibit back in 2005. Surely, lifelike robots have become, well, even more lifelike since, but Repliee Q1 has definitely made a few frat boys quip, "Yeah, but, after nine vodka/cranberries, would you?"

* Video: Robot goalie can't be beat

Albert Hubo

What better way to arrive at the 2005 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in South Korea than to be greeted by a living legend, Albert Einstein? Er, wait a second; Einstein died of a ruptured aneurysm in 1955. Pictured, arms wide, is "Albert Hubo," a robot with a head of artificial hair and skin created by a Texas designer. Albert Hubo's arms are open to either hug you or squeeze the last breath from your body - your call.

* Bing: Einstein was German, but where did he die?

CB2

As a sheer feat of design, the Child-Robot with Biomimetic Body, or "CB2," is quite something. Developed by the University of Osaka, the CB2 features 56 actuators in lieu of muscles, so it can change facial expressions, grasp a hand and even rock back and forth. Officially, it has 197 sensors for touch, small cameras working as eyes, an audio sensor and an artificial vocal cord. Unofficially, blood will pour from its nose as it stands over your bed while you sleep.

* Video: Meet the robot gas pump

A platform for Cognitive-development Robotics built by JST ERATO Asada Project and Kokoro Co. Ltd. This is an award-winning video showcasing what the project is all about.

Noelle

For $20,000, her cost to a hospital, Noelle sacrifices her body in the pursuit of better medicine. Instead of having students train on a live patient, engineers designed Noelle as a lifelike 'bot to simulate the birthing procedure. So, just as they would a real mother, hospital staff train on Noelle, receiving her robot babies as a miracle of artificial birth. Wait, did we say robot babies? We did. Noelle produces robot babies. Once again, robot babies.

* Bing: 10 of the most lifelike robots ever

Hanako

Of course, a distant cousin of Noelle may be Hanako, another lifelike robot designed to improve health care. In this case, Hanako has been engineered to sit in a dentist's chair to help dentistry students hone their craft. Equipped with a set of plastic teeth and human-like mouth cavity, Hanako has gums that bleed and flow saliva just like your mouth or mine. The wide-eyed 'bot even has voice recognition and speech capability, so trainees can learn to hold conversations with patients to better relax them. Perhaps Hanako has the pre-recorded message, "I'll be taking that drill now."

* Video: Every man's dream - the beer-fetching robot

QRIO

Look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes look at those eyes ...

* Bing: Can a robot outperform a human?

Robo fly

Any good mystery novel writes about robotic spy flies, though perhaps the innovation is closer to reality than we think. For an entirely different reason than other 'bots on this list, the aside robo fly may creep out paranoid readers because of its designed purpose of surveillance. With a wingspan of three centimetres and weight of a pin head, this robot uses lightweight carbon joints to buzz around just like a real fly would. Researchers at Harvard University, who developed the robo fly, say further development of the critter could allow for its use in mobile surveillance.

* Video: Dancing robot gets down in Tokyo

HRP-3 Promet Mk-II

If a robot that can withstand water doesn't creep you out - short-circuiting, anyone? - let's play a quick game. Without reading the aside photo's caption, what is the HRP-3 Promet Mk-II doing? Is it a) daintily bristling under too-cold shower water, b) squatting and doing a bathroom activity not meant for the shower at all, or c) preparing for the third step of the Macarena? Really, all three are just as bad.

* Bing: How to bring your iPod or cell phone back from water damage

AIBO

Starting at the visored head, at the right of the accompanying pic, there is nothing creepy about AIBO, the electronic dog developed by Sony back in 1999. Moving left, the robotics are actually kind of neat; a canine-shaped torso and body, affixed with four legs and paws, expertly in motion through the use of 12 joints in total. Cool stuff. But then: the tail. In a world of dogs-as-accessories (indeed, AIBO cost about US$2,000 when it debuted), it's a little off-putting to consider that tiered, I'll-strangle-you-without-thinking-twice appendage could be seen sticking out of a Coach purse in your downtown.

* Video: Crawling robot a street sensation

Creepy Japanese Crawling Robot
A performance artist from Japan has built a weird crawling robot that looks like an elderly businessman.

Actroid, creepy robot receptionist

Creepy Child Robot

Creepy Robot Mouth
Engineers at Kagawa University in Japan are developing a talking robotic version of the human mouth: To enable the robot's speaking abilities, engineers at Japan's Kagawa University used an air pump, artificial vocal chords, a resonance tube, a nasal cavity, and a microphone attached to a sound analyzer as substitutes for human vocal organs.

Science & Tech

Friday 30 September 2011

Simulating the universe

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Will Robots Steal Your Job?

Sunday 25 September 2011

Creepy Robots

Repliee Q1

Albert Hubo

CB2

Noelle

Hanako

QRIO

Robo fly

HRP-3 Promet Mk-II

AIBO

Theoretical physicist Lisa Randall

Lisa Randall on String Theory

Lisa Randall taks about the Large Hadron Collider

CERN or Einstein? Interpreting the Findings