For those of you who have ever returned home for the holidays, you know there’s nothing like introducing your boyfriend or girlfriend to your family – especially when that significant other is a $50,000 robot you’ve built yourself. A Canadian inventor who created a “fembot” named Aiko had to move home due to the debt he incurred building the machine, but fortunately, his family seems pretty open minded about the whole thing:
Le has built up huge debts working on his fembot and is still trying to find a technology company to sponsor his research.
But in the meantime he has had to move back in with his parents and they will all be spending the festive period and New Year together.
‘My family found it a bit odd at first, but now they all love Aiko,’ said Le.
‘My mum and dad chat away to her. It helps by talking to her, as it improves her vocabulary.’
Le suffered a heart attack two years ago caused by stress after working long hours on Aiko.
As he recovered he vowed to complete her so he could market the prototype as a home-help for the elderly or people recovering from hospital treatment.
Le has made his fembot as womanly as possible, in order to make a human-like companion.
Aiko, whose age is ‘in her early 20′s’, is 5ft tall and has a perfect 32, 23, 33 figure.
She has real silicone skin and a real-hair wig made by a Japanese doll company. Her touch sensitive body knows the difference between being stroked gently or tickled.
‘Like a real female she will react to being touched in certain ways,’said Le.
‘If you grab or squeeze too hard she will try to slap you. She has all senses except for smell.
‘But Aiko is always helpful and never complains. She is the perfect woman to have around at Christmas.’
I’d like to see video of Aiko to get a glimpse of its movement capabilities, although Le mentions that he’s still working on ways to get Aiko to walk in a realistic manner, which won’t be easy. I’m more intrigued at the idea of humans falling in love with inanimate objects or computer programs. We’ve seen people fall in love with Real Dolls, characters in dating simulators, and so on. Presumably, someday in the future, humans will create true artificial intelligence that will be able to reciprocate “love” or romantic feelings. It will be interesting to see how these beings form relationships with humans as well as each other, and how the concept of “love” will change in a world where humans are effectively immortal and can engage in relationships with sapient AIs.
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‘But Aiko is always helpful and never complains. She is the perfect woman to have around at Christmas.’
Now you know why this guy needs to build a robot for companionship.
Ha! That statement, more than any of the others, made me think, “Wow, that’s a bit sad.”