Automaton

A Japanese friend pointed me to an article on the history of the Actroid robot series. I don't speak Japanese, but the article features 9 video clips showing the robot's incredible progression since 2003. The clip below shows a video of the actroid Repliee Q1 from April 2007.

The Actroid series is jointly developed by Japanese entertainment firm Kokoro and Hiroshi Ishiguro, well known for building a robot doppelgänger of himself. Kokoro offers the Actroids for rent to greet customers and provide information in up-market coffee shops, office complexes, and museums or "old houses".

Will life-like robots like these make for more cases like 33-year old Zoltan, who fell in love with and married a robot? [Editor's note: The previous two links lead to pages that contain adult material and language.] If the comments on the youtube page are any indication then that's a yes.

Thanks, Mototaka!