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Biography |
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Hiroshi Ishiguro (M’) received a D.Eng. in systems engineering from the Osaka University, Japan in 1991. He is currently Professor of Department of Systems Innovation in the Graduate School of Engineering Science at Osaka University (2009–). He is also Visiting Group Leader (2002–) of the Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute, where he previously worked as Visiting Researcher (1999–2002). He was previously Research Associate (1992–1994) in the Graduate School of Engineering Science at Osaka University and Associate Professor (1998–2000) in the Department of Social Informatics at Kyoto University. He was also Visiting Scholar (1998–1999) at the University of California, San Diego, USA. He was Associate Professor (2000–2001) and Professor (2001–2002) in the Department of Computer and Communication Sciences at Wakayama University. He then moved to Department of Adaptive Machine Systems in the Graduate School of Engineering Science at Osaka University as a Professor (2002-2009). His research interests include distributed sensor systems, interactive robotics, and android science.
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Abstract |
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Understanding humans by building humanoids and androids
Why do we need to study on androids that are very humanlike robots? My answer is that we can study what human is. I have developed several androids and faced fundamental issues both for robotics and human understanding. This talk introduces the androids developed in Department of Systems Innovations, Osaka University and ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories and discusses the fundamental issues.
One of the well-known phenomena is "uncanny valley". When I have developed the first android, I have faced the issue. In order to overcome the uncanny valley problem, the android with humanlike appearance needs to have humanlike movement and perception. Then, I have developed the female android "Repliee Q2" and exhibited in the World Expo. Aichi, Japan. The android was not uncanny anymore. However, it could not have long conversations with people. And then, I have developed the tele-operated android of an existing person, named "Geminoid HI-1". Once we start to use the Geminoid, both the operator and visitor can adapt to the geminoid system. That is, the operator recognizes it as his/her own body and the visitor recognizes it as if it is the person.
I consider the Geminoid will be a new information medium like a cell-phone. The cell-phone connects people anywhere and anytime. On the other hand, the Geminoid can send the presence of the person to the distant place. In September of 2009, the SF movie "Surrogate" has been firstly shown in USA then shown in many other countries including Japan. The concept of "Surrogate" is same as the Geminoid. In the near future, everybody has own surrogate robot and tele-operate it from own safe home.
The interesting conversation in the move is "You are similar to your surrogate." In the surrogate world, the people do not have the social identities but the surrogates have. Then, the main actor says "I want to know." This lies on a deep question about what human is.
We are going to use humanoids and androids in the near future and we may have same situations as the movie "Surrogate." Furthermore, the technological development enables us to develop more humanlike androids than humans.
I will discuss this deep question in our future life through my experiences on android studies. This is a talk on robotics but it may sound philosophical.
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