Creepy Hospital Droid Watches You When You're Sick

[Tom Phoenix]

See that's actually reached the point now where it's too lifelike to trigger the uncanny-valley response to me. God damn that is realistic looking, animations are close enough too.

Agreed. Sometimes, I even mistook it for an actual human being! Some of the movements and reactions really come off as natural. That said, it is possible that I only react that way beacuse I know it is a robot. If I didn't know, it is possible that uncanny valley would come into effect.

Suprisingly, I don't really feel threatened by this news, even though I should be. But then again, it's possible I am one of those hopeless social rejects who hope for ridiculously human robots [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RidiculouslyHumanRobots?from=Main.RidiculouslyHumanRobot] like Aschen to become reality:

 

[OctalLord]

Well, if you really want to make it less creepy. Until we actually make robots that can get past the uncanny valley.

I propose we make all robots, no matter how lifelike and real they may move. Look like this:

 

[Magners]

We are 2 decades away from Ghost in the Shell

 

[Logan Westbrook]

Not sure if anyone said this yet, but the disgust most people feel when seeing a lifelike robot has been studied, this is is known as the "uncanny valley" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

I may have mentioned it a couple of times in the article

 

[Yingyangathena]

I dunno, even if there are some parts where it looks a little off, I think I would still be okay by it being on the room when I am sick in bed. Its not absolutely all that creepy...just a few tweaks here and there and I think this robot nurse will be safetly on the other side of the uncanny valley.

 

[ultimateownage]

Am I the only one who couldn't help but think 'Bladerunner: Hospital'?

 

[Serenegoose]

You know, I think that's great. I mean to me it really speaks of a project that actually gives a crap about others. So many people end up in hospital without visitors, and I know that this isn't perfect, but what it is is a start. It's this kind of ambition that might one day result in truly thinking synthetic companions - and it shows compassion for humanity that shows me what our species is capable of for one another.

 

[Neferius]

OMFG! It's already HERE!
The Dawn of the Vampire Robot Nazi Zombies holocaust is upon us ...repent Sinners, REPENT!!!

But seriously guys, that thing is just scaring the shit out of me.
I mean, at first I thought "That's an Android? Yeah Right! That's just some actress they ...wait, is her skin made out of Rubber !? OMG, it's the Terminator, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!"

Now all we need is a self-aware A.I. and BAM! It'll be Skynet all-over again.
...or, we learn how to interface Human Brains with machine-bodies, and we get the "Ghost in the Shell" scenario.
Either-way, I don't like where this is going :-/

 

[Neferius]

You know, I think that's great. I mean to me it really speaks of a project that actually gives a crap about others. So many people end up in hospital without visitors, and I know that this isn't perfect, but what it is is a start. It's this kind of ambition that might one day result in truly thinking synthetic companions - and it shows compassion for humanity that shows me what our species is capable of for one another.

Imagine you were a Nurse, and you just got Fired from your job because your boss replaced you with a frickin' Robot! -How's THAT for "compassion for humanity"

 

[Serenegoose]

You know, I think that's great. I mean to me it really speaks of a project that actually gives a crap about others. So many people end up in hospital without visitors, and I know that this isn't perfect, but what it is is a start. It's this kind of ambition that might one day result in truly thinking synthetic companions - and it shows compassion for humanity that shows me what our species is capable of for one another.

Imagine you were a Nurse, and you just got Fired from your job because your boss replaced you with a frickin' Robot! -How's THAT for "compassion for humanity"

Well, given this robot doesn't fulfil any of the nurses jobs, I'd query their sanity.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

I'm not the only one who sees this as just another step in Japan's inevitable march to sex robots, am I? I mean the mouth movements and the bobbing up and down...

 

[Neferius]

Well, given this robot doesn't fulfil any of the nurses jobs, I'd query their sanity.

Just give them a couple of years, and those damn things will replace us all.

Think about it, despite the high initial-costs an Android doesn't need to Eat or Sleep, take coffee brakes or go to the Toilet, meaning it can operate for 24h/7 days a week only stopping occasionally to recharge and for scheduled Maintenance, thus making it far more cost-effective than hiring real People for your Staff.
And like I said, it's only a matter of time before those damn blasted scientists get their A.I. high-enough that we won't even be able to tell the difference anymore.

Face it ...we're Screwed

 

[Serenegoose]

Well, given this robot doesn't fulfil any of the nurses jobs, I'd query their sanity.

Just give them a couple of years, and those damn things will replace us all.

Think about it, despite the high initial-costs an Android doesn't need to Eat or Sleep, take coffee brakes or go to the Toilet, meaning it can operate for 24h/7 days a week only stopping occasionally to recharge and for scheduled Maintenance, thus making it far more cost-effective than hiring real People for your Staff.
And like I said, it's only a matter of time before those damn blasted scientists get their A.I. high-enough that we won't even be able to tell the difference anymore.

Face it ...we're Screwed

If that's the case, then please can we be screwed faster? I'd quite like robots to take all the jobs so that people don't need to work in menial jobs for a substandard living, and we can instead devote our time to doing things that make us happy.

 

[Lord Honk]

+1 on human-cyborg relation

Rather chat her up than my family, if she gets on my nerves I can at least pull the plug

 

[gnarf]

do they make a naughty nurse version?

 

[superbatranger]

Remind me never to get sick if I ever go to Japan.

 

[Vrach]

That's a robot!? They have some really nice artists in Japan!

^This. Jesus, I turned off the sound and was like "ok so is this chick supposed to talk about the robot then.. HOLY FUCKING SHIT"

Lucy Liu-bots coming in 3...2....1.....

Ok, just tried it with sound on and goddammit, that's one hell of a way to get people to get the fuck out of your hospital ASAP.

 

[KeyMaster45]

It reminds me of the animatronics that Disney uses on its attractions at their various parks. Cept theirs move more fluidly and look more natural in their movements. Then again I suppose it's a bit easier to make scripted movements look natural than it is for an AI's processor dictating movements.

 

[Neferius]

If that's the case, then please can we be screwed faster? I'd quite like robots to take all the jobs so that people don't need to work in menial jobs for a substandard living, and we can instead devote our time to doing things that make us happy.

Well, if it makes you feel any happier, this has already been going on for a couple of hundred years now.
It all started with the Industrial-Age, when the discovery of steam-power led to the building of Manufactures and Factories ...millions of people lost their jobs, and entire Families of Craftsmen lost their livelihood.
And it continues to go on as technology advances, and people become less relevant to the Industry, unemployment has reached an all-time high, and not just because of the Recession.
Indeed the only reason you would find a human-being in an assembly-line nowadays, is because they are actually Cheaper to employ and maintain than an Industrial Robot.
This in turn gives birth to completely damnable situations such-as India's vast slave-labor comprised mainly of Children, and China's infamous 24h shifts.

...but I guess there is an upside.
With so much free time available, the Entertainment Industry has been booming as people struggle with an Increasingly bleak Society and even bleaker Prospects.

"The world is bleak, but escape is an ever-present commodity ? perhaps too present" -quoteVampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines)