- Title: JAPAN-ROBOTTOM: Wobbling robot buttocks express emotion.
- Date: 4th July 2012
- Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (RECENT - JUNE 29, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF UNIVERSITY OF ELECTRO-COMMUNICATIONS VARIOUS OF INVENTOR NOBUHIRO TAKAHASHI WALKING INTO TENT CONTAINING ROBOTIC BUTTOCKS VARIOUS OF TAKAHASHI SPANKING ROBOT BUTTOCKS (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) UNIVERSITY OF ELECTRO-COMMUNICATION STUDENT AND INVENTOR NOBUHIRO TAKAHASHI, SAYING: "I wanted to try and use a
- Embargoed: 19th July 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVA2KX27ABFTATJS39DPQ94UZ8
- Story Text: Japanese inventor creates wobbling robotic rear that reacts with fear, joy or relaxation to the human touch.
This may look like a new low for the world of Japanese robotics.
But this wobbling, pulsating buttocks could be a new leap into the future of humanoid development.
Inventor and masters student Nobuhiro Takahashi has programmed his 'Ro-butt', named "SHIRI" or "butt" in Japanese, to respond with emotions to the human touch One of the reasons that he chose to model a rear end is that as a bottom's movement is large and makes it easier to convey emotions.
A slow wobble is this robot's default state -- the sign for unadulterated relaxation.
But rapidly quivering cheeks reflect fear, he says, as the robot reacts to spank from its creator.
A gentle stroke, though, elicits alternate buttock clenches. That means pleasure and joy, according to Takahashi.
"I wanted to try and use a butt to reflect emotions - fear, joy and relaxation. Fear is a very human -- very living -- emotion, so it's expressed with force, with a spank," Takahashi told Reuters in his black tent -- designed to keep out unwanted light from damaging his silicon-covered invention -- at Tokyo's University of Electro-Communication.
As people tend to communicate a large amount of information using unconscious signals, being able to convey emotions through something like robotic butt could help robots converse with humans in a more natural manner in the future.
"If we could apply this technology to conventional humanoid robots -- these things which are on the dividing line between man and robot -- well they would be able to express feelings sufficient to communicate with humans properly," Takahashi explained.
However, the robot bottom is not 24-year-old Takahashi's first work in his career as an inventor.
Previous creations include a vest that lets you feel your own hug, and a robotic tongue for delivering a kiss online. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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