Japanese scientists have combined artificial intelligence and robotics to make a robot toddler. The pasty robot kid has 56 pneumatic muscles, so it moves relatively naturally, and it also has 197 tactile sensors that allow it to react to touch. It has natural reactions to sounds and other stimuli. Its robot eyes are cameras, and it squirms and wiggles like a baby. So as you can imagine, it is really effin' creepy. It is called CB2, for "Child-robot with Biomimetic Body," which was coincidentally our second choice baby name. The researchers are "committing a lot of their time in order
to teach it how to walk or talk, and also to raise its intelligence to
the level of a 3-year old." Bad idea. Life gets much harder when kids can walk, and for god's sake, age three is trouble squared.
Part of me is very impressed with the technological advances, but the much more dominant part of me says, "Arggghbleugh". Watch the video and you'll see what I mean. Of course, unless the little robot whines and suddenly runs into the street without warning, he'll never pass as a real toddler. But why make a robot kid? It's not like kids are all that hard to come by, and frankly, they are often a pain in the AI. This one is just a big, doughy, weird baby that will now visit me in my nightmares. If I were a scientist, I'd make a robot Johnny Depp, and teach him to do my bidding. Or at the very least, a robot who could make me a nice latte and give me a back rub. My kid still can't even manage that much.
