Kansei has a problem with our President …

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

All right, before you start getting on my case, I didn’t write the program for this robot. I may find it amusing, but that’s all you can accuse me of … At any rate, Kansei is another Japanese robot (remember CB2, earlier?). But this one has a self-updating online database of 500,000 keywords, and uses it to create up to 36 expressions with 19 movable parts under a silicone mask.

Kansei smiles at sushi, as he likes that … but say “president”, and well … like I said, it depends on the words and the associated keywords.

The English keywords then trigger the most appropriate facial expression, which ranges from happiness to sadness, anger and fear.

“What we are trying to do here is to create a flow of consciousness in robots so that they can make the relevant facial expressions,” said project leader Junichi Takeno, a professor at Meiji University’s School of Science and Technology.

When the robot hears the word “president,” the online database picks up associated words such as “Bush,” “war” and “Iraq” and creates an expression which the researchers said is meant to mix fear and disgust. Source: Yahoo! News

We Say: I have to admit … it’s interesting that these Japanese scientists appear to have a sense of humor.