Saturday, September 23, 2006

Robot beauty goes skin-deep

The artificial skin developed by Kao and Keio mimics the feel of human skin with a 1-cm thick "dermis" of elastic silicone covered by a 0.2-mm thick "epidermis" of firm urethane. Countless tiny hexagonal indentations etched into the urethane epidermis provide it with a very realistic texture.

In a series of unscientific tests, 10 out of 12 people who touched the skin thought it felt like human skin, while equipment designed to measure the mechanical properties of skin confirmed the artificial skin had characteristics resembling human skin.


Nexus-Six, here we come.

12 comments:

Katie said...

I just have to wonder...with the "evolution" of robots that can so closely mimic humans, what is going to come about of real human interaction?

If everyone can have a manufactured partner that so closely resembles a real human, then what need will people have to interact with their own kind?

This all sounds very "Stepford Wives" to me, and not in a positive way. Or am I just over-thinking this?

Mac said...

I don't think we're that far from creating beings that are indistinguishable from humans. And if they're indistinguishable from humans, it's possible to argue that they *are* human for all intents and purposes. In which case interaction with androids becomes identical to interaction with fellow humans, assuming some arbitrary class distinction isn't made.

For a couple good books on human-android social relations, I recommend "Tower of Glass" by the great Robert Silverberg and, of course, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick.

Katie said...

I've already read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". Maybe this makes me a bigot of sorts, but I just can't seem to wrap my head around the idea of considering an android a fellow human, no matter how much he/she resembles one.

Mac said...

Well, what *is* human? And can "humanness" be translated to another medium? I don't see why not.

From a material perspective, at least, we're becoming less organic all the time. Bionic limbs are just a crude beginning. We already have neural prosthetics. Is a paralyzed person who surfs the Net via a brain implant less than human -- or more?

By the time machine intelligence is practical reality, *we won't be "human" either*, a point that goes overlooked. There won't be a human/machine divide so much as a stealthy symbiosis.

Love the alien.

Katie said...

I guess my bias results from the belief that as a human I have this little thing called a "soul", and that when I die, I either go to a higher plane of existence, or start the whole damn human experience over again.

And that's what makes us different than some "machine", that comes off of some assembly line, ready and willing to do our bidding with no real sense of its own identity. Unless it's implanted with some false memories to try and make it more lifelike.

While I believe that bioengineering will have a place in the human existence to make us even better than what we were born with, it will never equate us with an android that is completely manufactured.

Mac said...

I guess my bias results from the belief that as a human I have this little thing called a "soul"

Or so you claim. Unfortunately, you can't prove it. Perhaps if an android claims to possess a soul, we should accept the claim as evidence of some subjective state just as we do with our fellow humans. And remember: Humans, while interesting, are essentially complex meat-based machines.

and that when I die, I either go to a higher plane of existence, or start the whole damn human experience over again.

Why only those two options? Maybe there's *nothing* after you croak.

And that's what makes us different than some "machine", that comes off of some assembly line, ready and willing to do our bidding with no real sense of its own identity.

I disagree with you. People -- and sophisticated machine intelligences -- aren't "things" so much as processes.

Humans are effectively manufactured -- by evolution, which can be viewed as a sort of mechanistic "assembly line." Building an intelligence is merely speeding up the process by which the universe enables itself to consider its own existence.

Katie said...

Mac, I think you and I are just going to have to agree to disagree on this topic. :o)

Mac said...

Hey! I'm not through with you! ;-)

Katie said...

Then I guess we'll just have to continue this conversation when we meet in "meatspace". ;o)

Katie said...

Though I have to admit, you bring up points that I find rather...uncomfortable.

Mac said...

Though I have to admit, you bring up points that I find rather...uncomfortable.

Oh, just wait till you meet me in person!

Katie said...

I can only imagine...