Some robots in Japan don’t exactly look like R2-D2 and C-P30.

Kokoro, a robot venture, and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) have teamed up to create extremely realistic humanoid robots. In 2010 they introduced Actroid-F, a fem-bot that graced many tech-blogs globally, with a video of her blinking, smiling and mimicking the actions of the controlling person.

Read more at GlobalPost: The fading line between robots and humans

But once Actroid-F hit the internet people kept asking the AIST why they created just a female robot, Tech Crunch reported. Well, the AIST answered back this fall with a male robot, giving their first robot a brother and expanding their mechanical family.

The male robot was also made with an improvement. Kokoro and AIST built cameras into the robot’s eyes in order to make him look at people while communication, Tech Crunch reported.

Their first robot was named Geminoid F and was an exact replica of an actual human model in Japan, CNET reported. More commonly she was known as Actroid F, like other robots produced by Kokoro. Kokoro’s robots are able to move their eyes, mouth, head and back, but can’t actually walk.

According to CNET, these air servo-powered fembots can be rented for trade shows and other events. Kokoro plans to sell 50 of their creations to museums and hospitals for $110,000 each, hoping they will get hired as receptionists, patient attendants, or guides.

Could this mean we’re one step closer to living like the Jetsons?



