Human, Non-Human and Human-ish
Most robot-makers aren't trying to make artificial humans. But some are. What is up with that?
Three humans (standing) and their robot “geminoids.” Hiroshi Ishiguro and his robot are in the middle. At right is (are) Henrik Scharfe of Aalborg University’s Center for Computer-Mediated Epistemology. The identity of the woman at left has not been disclosed. 1
Just before the Covid shutdown last year, I stood in the lobby of a Tokyo hotel, in front of a pair of lookalike receptionists demurely seated on stools. In buff-colored uniforms and pillbox hats, they looked out over the front desk like wax-museum figures (you could’ve tagged them “flight attendants in the age of Mad Men”). But every now and then one of these women blinked — with a faint, audible click. They were robots — the sort that are made to look as human as possible.
The hotel is part of the Henn Na chain, whose brand is tightly wound around robots — for reception, cleaning, luggage handling, room service and other tasks. Some of these machines are functional (mechanical arms that wouldn’t be out of place in a factory). …