Repliee Q1Expo
Called Repliee Q1Expo - She has flexible silicon 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 move her hands like a human. She even appears to breathe.
Her creator - Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University - says that one day robots could fool us into believing that they are human:
"A human like appearance gives a robot a strong feeling of presence".
"More importantly, we have found that people forget she is an android while interacting with her. Consciously, it is easy to see that she is an android, but unconsciously, we react to the android as if she were a woman."
And there we are in 2008 - waiting for the robots.
Simon Laub, September 10th 2008
Why the Earth was destroyed and the robots took over:
Almost every human activity carries
some risk. Consequently, conscience stricken
robots, like R.Daneel and R.Giskard,
can not permit most of it!
According
to The Three Laws of Robotics:
>1. A robot may not injure a human being or,
>through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
>2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human
>beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
>3. A robot must protect its own existence
>as long as such protection does not conflict
>with the First or Second Law.
As Stephan H.M.J. Houben (stephanh@wsan03.win.tue.nl)
wrote in a previous post:
> Any group of Asimovian robots worth their salt would
>immediately round up all humans and put them in a
>Matrix-like computer simulation.
>Of course, when you "die" in this simulation, you wouldn't die
>in reality (that would violate Law 1.).
>You just get a mind wipe and be reborn....
Certainly, R.Giskard takes The Three Laws seriously. In ''Robots and Empire'' he tells R.Daneel : "It is not sufficient to choose (between different evolutions of human society), friend Daneel... Eventually, we must shape a desirable species and then protect it, rather than just finding ourselves forced to select among two or more undesirabilities .... Now, when we think of humanity, we must save, we think of Earth people and the Settlers. Where the Settlers are vigorous, more expansive. They show more initiative because they are less dependent on (us) robots. And they have a greater potential for biological and social evolution, because they are short lived, though long lived enough to contribute great things individually."
So, in the end of "Robots and Empire" R.Giskard destroys the Earth in order to prepare for the creation of a galactic human civilisation. The destruction justified by the Giskardian Reformation, the Zero'th law:
>0. A robot must act in the long-range interest of humanity
>as a whole,and may overrule all other laws,
>whenever it seems necessary for that ultimate goal.