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Hiroshi Ishiguro: The Man Who Made a Copy of Himself

16 points by njrc 17y ago

jluxenberg 17y ago
Here's a video of the robot in action. Definitely impressive but squarely in the uncanny valley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAO_DTeoVm8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAO_DTeoVm8
NathanKP 17y ago
The most interesting part of the article in my opinion: Then a boy pokes the android’s face. ”Yahh, don’t touch to my face,” Ishiguro yells. The kids laugh. But what just happened was quite profound. Ishiguro says that when the kid poked the robot’s face, he felt a tingle on his cheek—even though nothing was attached to his face. For an instant, Ishiguro’s brain mistook his body for another—in Austria. Ishiguro has experienced this many times in different settings, all with the same result: He feels as though the touch were real. He believes the phenomenon stems in part from observing the synchronization of the android’s head and lips with his own. When Ishiguro uses the Geminoid, he sees video from external cameras that show the robot’s field of view and also its face. Because he is watching the robot’s lips move as he speaks and seeing its head move when he turns his own neck, Ishiguro’s brain starts to treat the robot as an extension of his own body.
- sp332 17y ago
  This is an amazingly easy illusion to experience. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mind/note_nf6.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mind/note_nf6.html and http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2007/08/induced_outofbody_.html http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2007/08/induced_outofbody_.htm... describe three experiments you can set up yielding similar effects.
  - decode 17y ago
    The illusions you linked to are different from the one Mr. Ishiguro describes. In those illusions, the person is actually being touched at the same time as seeing something being touched. In Mr. Ishiguro's case, he wasn't being touched at all, he only saw the touch happen.
    - sp332 17y ago
      Sorry, I forgot to double-check the specific links I posted. There is another step which they left out. I'll just describe the whole thing: 1. Hide your hand from yourself. 2. Have a friend tap/stroke your hidden hand and some other object that you can see. Use a synchronized, but arrhythmic pattern. Any object will do, even the surface of a table. 3. After 30 seconds to 1 minute, your brain will "connect" the object to the neural impulses. Now the friend should hit the object (but not your hand!) really hard. Your hand will feel tingly! There is a paper I can't find right now which documents that skin conductance actually changes, as if responding to being hit.
Splines 17y ago
It's interesting to see how the animation/film industry has approached the uncanny valley not by crossing it, but by avoiding it altogether. One of the reasons I love the movie WALL-E is that Pixar has imbued WALL-E (the robot) with so many human nuances and characteristics that you empathize with him quite quickly, even though he looks nothing like a person. There are very few animated television shows/films that I can think of that attempt to depict humans with as much realism as possible. The ones that have tried (off the top my head, Final Fantasy: Spirits Within comes to mind) still have unconvincing depictions.
jrockway 17y ago
I, for one, welcome our new android-porn overlords.
pan69 17y ago
This is still my favorite robot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww

16 points by njrc 17y ago

Here's a video of the robot in action. Definitely impressive but squarely in the uncanny valley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAO_DTeoVm8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAO_DTeoVm8

NathanKP 17y ago

The most interesting part of the article in my opinion: Then a boy pokes the android’s face. ”Yahh, don’t touch to my face,” Ishiguro yells. The kids laugh. But what just happened was quite profound. Ishiguro says that when the kid poked the robot’s face, he felt a tingle on his cheek—even though nothing was attached to his face. For an instant, Ishiguro’s brain mistook his body for another—in Austria. Ishiguro has experienced this many times in different settings, all with the same result: He feels as though the touch were real. He believes the phenomenon stems in part from observing the synchronization of the android’s head and lips with his own. When Ishiguro uses the Geminoid, he sees video from external cameras that show the robot’s field of view and also its face. Because he is watching the robot’s lips move as he speaks and seeing its head move when he turns his own neck, Ishiguro’s brain starts to treat the robot as an extension of his own body.

sp332 17y ago
This is an amazingly easy illusion to experience. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mind/note_nf6.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mind/note_nf6.html and http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2007/08/induced_outofbody_.html http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2007/08/induced_outofbody_.htm... describe three experiments you can set up yielding similar effects.
- decode 17y ago
  The illusions you linked to are different from the one Mr. Ishiguro describes. In those illusions, the person is actually being touched at the same time as seeing something being touched. In Mr. Ishiguro's case, he wasn't being touched at all, he only saw the touch happen.
  - sp332 17y ago
    Sorry, I forgot to double-check the specific links I posted. There is another step which they left out. I'll just describe the whole thing: 1. Hide your hand from yourself. 2. Have a friend tap/stroke your hidden hand and some other object that you can see. Use a synchronized, but arrhythmic pattern. Any object will do, even the surface of a table. 3. After 30 seconds to 1 minute, your brain will "connect" the object to the neural impulses. Now the friend should hit the object (but not your hand!) really hard. Your hand will feel tingly! There is a paper I can't find right now which documents that skin conductance actually changes, as if responding to being hit.

Splines 17y ago

It's interesting to see how the animation/film industry has approached the uncanny valley not by crossing it, but by avoiding it altogether. One of the reasons I love the movie WALL-E is that Pixar has imbued WALL-E (the robot) with so many human nuances and characteristics that you empathize with him quite quickly, even though he looks nothing like a person. There are very few animated television shows/films that I can think of that attempt to depict humans with as much realism as possible. The ones that have tried (off the top my head, Final Fantasy: Spirits Within comes to mind) still have unconvincing depictions.

jrockway 17y ago

I, for one, welcome our new android-porn overlords.

pan69 17y ago

This is still my favorite robot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww