Business

Woman or machine? New robots look creepily human

By Yuri Kageyama
Published June 24, 2014 9:12am ET
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Woman or machine? New robots look creepily human
Japanese android expert Hiroshi Ishiguro, second left, and National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation Miraikan Chief Executive Director Mamoru Mohri, second right, pose with a female-announcer robot called Otonaroid, right, and a girl robot called Kodomoroid during a press unveiling of the museum's new guides in Tokyo Tuesday, June 24, 2014. The latest creations from Osaka University Prof. Ishiguro are the Otonaroid, the Kodomoroid and Telenoid, a hairless mannequin head with pointed arms that serves as a cuddly companion. The robots with silicon skin and artificial muscles were shown to reporters at Miraikan museum on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) | Shizuo Kambayashi

TOKYO (AP) — The new robot guides at a Tokyo museum look so eerily human and speak so smoothly they almost outdo people — almost.

Japanese robotics expert Hiroshi Ishiguro, an Osaka University professor, says they will be useful for research on how people interact with robots and on what differentiates the person from the machine.

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