Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet devised – a “female” android called Repliee Q1.
She has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner.
She can flutter her eyelids and move her hands like a human. She even appears to breathe.
Repliee Q1 is not like any robot you will have seen before, at least outside of science-fiction movies.
She is designed to look human and although she can only sit at present, she has 31 actuators in her upper body, powered by a nearby air compressor, programmed to allow her to move like a human.
Now this is cool, yet a bit freaky. I mean it’s cool to see how science and robotics have advanced but a bit freaky when you think that soon we could be living those scary science-fiction movies we see in cinema.
