March 19, 2004
Lucy the Android Orangutan
I made Lucy as an orangutan because, can you imagine how scary it would be if she looked like a human baby? She looks pretty scary as it is. But in addition, people's expectations would be too high if I made her as a human.
You can read more here and here.
(via Boing Boing)
Because I am a lazy, lazy man, I only skimmed the links you provided--can you explain how this is "pioneering work" in AI? How is this at all comparable to, for example, Aisimo?
I don't know what Aisimo is. What's impressive about it, other than the fact that it's by a single guy with little training, is that pattern recognition is really hard. It's nothing compared to what Sony has done with its walking robot since it has face recognition, can walk around people, and understand gestures, but that picture is freaky.
Well, I spelled it wrong, but you are surely familar with Honda's heralded Asimo project. Anyway, it sure is incredible that this single person could create this, but I think one of your links called the guy a pioneer. Until I see evidence to the contrary, I say "pbbbth" to that: Homer Simpson has created similar robots, and he's just a cartoon character.
Also, the picture is pretty freaky. It looks more than a little Onion-ish.
Also, here's a link from a paper I visit every day--the Daily Yomiuri--that mentions Aismo and Sony's Qrio. Is this the foreshadowing of a digital master race? This reporter says yes.
Yes, Asimo was what I meant when I talked about Sony's robot. I guess I forgot which company makes him. As for being a master race, that will have to wait until we have sufficiently advanced quantum computing so they can have minds more complex than ours. According to Asimov, though, robots will come to protect humanity by controlling key humans, but it all turns out for the best, so maybe it wouldn't be a Matrix-like nightmare.