Tag Archives: UncannyValley
Researchers make a surprisingly smooth artificial video of Obama
Disney can digitally recreate your teeth
China’s realistic robot Jia Jia can chat with real humans
Researchers’ robotic face expresses the needs of yellow slime mold (video)
Apparently, slime mold has feelings too. Researchers at the University of the West of England have a bit of a history with Physarum polycephalum -- a light-shy yellow mold known for its ability to seek out the shortest route to food. Now, they're on a quest to find out why the organism's so darn smart, and the first in their series of experiments equates the yellow goo's movements to human emotions. The team measured electrical signals the mold produced when moving across micro-electrodes, converting the collected data into sounds. This audio data was weighted against a psychological model and translated into a corresponding emotion. Data collected when the mold was moving across food, for instance, correspond to joy, while anger was derived from the colony's reaction to light.
Unfortunately, mold isn't the most expressive form of life, so when the team demonstrated the studies results at the Living Machines conference in London, they enlisted the help of a robotic head. Taking cues from a soundtrack based on the mold's movements, the dismembered automaton reenacts the recorded emotions with stiff smiles and frowns. Yes, it's as creepy as you might imagine, but those brave enough can watch it go through a cycle of emotions in the video after the break.
[Image credit: Jerry Kirkhart / Flickr]
Via: The Verge
Source: New Scientist
XYZbot’s Fritz offers a cheaper robot head, free trips to the uncanny valley (video)
It's been relatively easy to get your hands on an expressive robot face... if you're rich or a scientist, that is. XYZbot would like to give the rest of us a shot by crowdfunding Fritz, an Arduino-powered robot head. The build-it-yourself (and eerily human-proportioned) construction can react to pre-programmed actions, text-to-speech conversion or live control, ranging from basics like the eyes and jaw to the eyelids, eyebrows, lips and neck of an Advanced Fritz. Windows users should have relatively simple control through an app if they just want to play, but where Fritz may shine is its open source nature: the code and hardware schematics will be available for extending support, changing the look or building a larger robot where Fritz is just one part. The $125 minimum pledge required to set aside a Fritz ($199 for an Advanced Fritz) isn't trivial, but it could be a relative bargain if XYZbot makes its $25,000 goal -- and one of the quickest routes to not-quite-lifelike robotics outside of a research grant.
Filed under: Peripherals, Robots
Source: Kickstarter
Sony takes SOEmote live for EverQuest II, lets gamers show their true CG selves (video)
We had a fun time trying Sony's SOEmote expression capture tech at E3; now everyone can try it. As of today, most EverQuest II players with a webcam can map their facial behavior to their virtual personas while they play, whether it's to catch the nuances of conversation or drive home an exaggerated game face. Voice masking also lets RPG fans stay as much in (or out of) character as they'd like. About the only question left for those willing to brave the uncanny valley is when other games will get the SOEmote treatment. Catch our video look after the break if you need a refresher.
Sony takes SOEmote live for EverQuest II, lets gamers show their true CG selves (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 17:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |Baby robot Affetto gets a torso, still gives us the creeps (video)
It's taken a year to get the sinister ticks and motions of Osaka University's Affetto baby head out of our nightmares -- and now it's grown a torso. Walking that still-precarious line between robots and humans, the animated robot baby now has a pair of arms to call its own. The prototype upper body has a babyish looseness to it -- accidentally hitting itself in the face during the demo video -- with around 20 pneumatic actuators providing the movement. The face remains curiously paused, although we'd assume that the body prototype hasn't been paired with facial motions just yet, which just about puts it the right side of adorable. However, the demonstration does include some sinister faceless dance motions. It's right after the break -- you've been warned.
Continue reading Baby robot Affetto gets a torso, still gives us the creeps (video)
Filed under: Robots
Baby robot Affetto gets a torso, still gives us the creeps (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 06:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsSamsung files patents for robot that mimics human walking and breathing, ratchets up the creepy factor
As much as Samsung is big on robots, it hasn't gone all-out on the idea until a just-published quartet of patent applications. The filings have a robot more directly mimicking a human walk and adjusting the scale to get the appropriate speed without the unnatural, perpetually bent gait of certain peers. To safely get from point A to point B, any path is chopped up into a series of walking motions, and the robot constantly checks against its center of gravity to stay upright as it walks uphill or down. All very clever, but we'd say Samsung is almost too fond of the uncanny valley: one patent has rotating joints coordinate to simulate the chest heaves of human breathing. We don't know if the company will ever put the patents to use; these could be just feverish dreams of one-upping Honda's ASIMO at its own game. But if it does, we could be looking at Samsung-made androids designed like humans rather than for them.
Samsung files patents for robot that mimics human walking and breathing, ratchets up the creepy factor originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jun 2012 02:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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