origin

The Enterprise had one, Luke Skywalker had two, and Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro copied himself. Whereas C3PO and R2D2 represented, in purely visual terms, rather rudimentary examples of their kind, Data made a bit more of an effort to resemble us. And then came Geminoid, which stopped us in our tracks to consider for at least a few seconds who—or actually what—it actually is that we’re dealing with here. Why is Geminoid also the coolest of the above-mentioned creatures?

Because it’s genuine. Deceptively real.

Hiroshi Ishiguro is a leading light in the field of robotics development. He’s been working for years on how to make robots behave as humanly as possible, and how to enhance them technically so that they can successfully perform certain tasks like giving information at airports or helping with the housework.

His best-known work to date—a creation that can legitimately be called a work of art—debuted in 2005: Repliee Q1, a robot that resembles an approximately 35-year-old Japanese woman and is capable of an impressive repertoire of reactions. If you pinch her on the arm, she responds with a disgruntled facial expression and, because the development process concentrated on her upper body movements, this look comes across very realistically.

With the creation of Geminoid, Ishiguro could be said to have cloned himself into immortality (at least as long as the components hold out). Complex sensors enable the robot to react to its surroundings, and it’s actually pretty good at what it does—for instance, serving as an android playmate for Ishiguro’s little daughter.

Martin “Maff” Honzik, Sandra Gassner and Emi Ogawa (f.l.t.r) present Ishiguro’s Android-Theater to Clemens Pichler from Neuer Dom in Linz

Visitors to the Ars Electronica Center can marvel at another one of his robots, the Telenoid. Ishiguro sees robots first and foremost as a medium for disseminating information and he is convinced that they are substantially better suited to this task than, say, the internet. Accordingly, Telenoid was conceived as a telephone assistant. Here’s how it works: Seated on the lap of each of the parties talking to one another on the phone is a Telenoid, which gets across the emotions that sometimes get lost in transmission. This is a good way to avoid misunderstandings, but the Telenoid can also give a consoling hug or smile at you. A cool guy. You should definitely check him out.

Hiroshi Ishiguro, Featured Artist at the 2009 Ars Electronica Festival, will be returning to Linz this year to stage an android drama in the New Cathedral. Although Skynet has already been online, this is definitely a don’t-miss performance for anybody who’s interested in finding out today how the world’s going to look only a few years from now.