Telenoid R1 robot plumbs new depth of uncanny valley

The appeal of the Telenoid R1 robot cannot be denied (otherwise it will sneak into your bedroom at night and kill you). (Via Pink Tentacle)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Lupelu

Lilith, is that you?
- Anonymous
  
  @Lupelu: HAHAHA!
PapayaSF

“Telenoid”? More like “Thalidomide.”
- Anonymous
  
  WIN
Anonymous

actually this creeped me out reminding me of an orson scott card short story called Eumenides on the Fourth Floor Lavatory – eeek!
Art

It’s like a giant sperm cell with arms…

The Spermenator R-1 Robot!
PapayaSF

It’s also like something out of a David Lynch movie. Can it sing “In Heaven, Everything is Fine”?
Anonymous

is there an obvious reason that it couldn’t be given complete (if non-functional) limbs? ought to be reported to the SPCIO (society for prevention of cruelty of inanimate objects)
IWood

I saw that episode of Buffy…this thing fell to earth in a meteorite and tried to kill Buffy’s mom.
blueelm

Helena…
- IronEdithKidd
  
  Kinda wishing I hadn’t checked back this far into the posts from yesterday.
  
  Now, thanks to you, I will have nightmares about that fucking movie again. Beyond sick, that film is.
zikzak

Behind that expressionless mouth are a thousand needle sharp teeth and an insatiable hunger for human organs.
- daen
  
  Ah, you’re making me nostalgic for one of my old girlfriends …
wylkyn

It won’t kill you. It will just wriggle under the blankets, cut a small incision in your side, and insert a tendril to suction out some of your essence. It’s painless; you won’t even wake up.
Anonymous

I had the pleasure to meet Ishiguro (it’s creator) when attending an exhibition at the MO+ museum of contemporary arts in Tokyo in March.

This man is really something.
He has a million ideas for a million different robots, telenoids, humanoids, seminoids.

He had a Seminoid that look like him, which he left at a bar in Paris, and operated from Tokyo, so he could interact with people who came near him (it).

As some came to it’s table and joined him for small chat, others never realized it was actually a robot.

Quite scary.
Brainspore

Just answer the question, Japan.
AirPillo

Imagine the psychological damage you could do to someone on the receiving end of a call with that thing.

Ring them up, then just thrash your arms and head about and screech gutterally. They’ll probably throw the robot across the room in terror.
Jane Jetson

It wants to steal your vital essence. I mean, telepresence.
Anonymous

It’s Pit-Pat, the magical, pansexual non-threatening spokesthing!
twelvesixteen

I believe I’ve defeated this beast before in Quake: http://quake.wikia.com/wiki/Scrag
Rich Keller

Stefan, you’re killing me!

This is what the aging population of Japan has to look forward to? In 10 or 15 years, their kids won’t bother visiting them. They’ll be phoning it in through this thing that looks like a concept sketch for an Inuyasha monster. It just needs wild hair, fangs and really big red eyes.

It’s kind of obsolete with video conferencing, but there are probably other applications for it that will come up eventually.
Chupacabara

Sealo Lives!
anthropomorphictoast

Neat concept, HORRIFIC Silent Hill-like design.
Itsumishi

Does anyone else feel like they’ve just taught the machines what to turn us into when they need us as fuel?
schr0559

Looks like one of those squirming-torsos-in-a-tank from the movie “Body Parts”.
MrsBug

“Appeal”? Is that the feeling you get when you’re all squwicked out at something and end up having to check your closet and under your bed before you go to sleep? If so, yeah, there’s some “appeal” there.
Anonymous

I don’t understand what in the Japanese cultural milieu is so different that teratogen-inspired subhomunculi could be popular. That applies to cartoons as well as robots.

They probably wonder about North Americans and sparkly vampires, though, to which I have no answer either.
Stefan Jones

Make an appointment at a Scientology office for a personality test for your . . . little brother.

When you go on vacation, set it up on a chair facing the door. Leave door unlocked. Hope it is gone when you get back.
Chupacabara

Casper, the friendly Telenoid R1 Robot!
The friendliest Telenoid R1 Robot you know…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WimtFW8z4LY&NR=1
Rich Keller

I want one.

But only for handing out candy on Halloween. I mean, only for pseudopoding candy out on Haloween.
Neon Tooth

An infant Jabba the Hut.
Anonymous

the aborted foetus looks aside, what they’ve actually made is a den den mushi from One Piece
Anonymous

I’m not sure this even counts as uncanny valley. It’s more of a grotesque body horror kind of thing than a too-human type thing.
Anonymous

I saw this linked somewhere else with the caption: “Nuke it from orbit, it’s the only way to make sure”.

I feel that sentiment sums up my feelings beautifully.
Stefan Jones

Program one to wriggle and scream when it detects light, sneak it into the ball pit at Chuck E Cheese, and wait for the evening clean up crew to find it.

Dress it in children’s clothing, bring it to a local playground. Push it down the slide, spin it around on the whirligig, and insist that other kids play with it.
Anonymous

Larry David seems to like it.
Xopher

It’s the Borg Queen, without her headset.

Seriously, that’s a fucking horror. What the hell is WRONG with these people?
Cara D

Eww he’s touching it
Sekino

Don’t they conduct any sort of market studies before making something like this? I mean, I seriously doubt ANY cross-section of population wants a robot that looks like a misshapen, doughy humanoid with a blankly staring mannequin head. It’s just plain disturbing to look at, on so many levels.

Hasn’t anime taught them anything? Just stick with kawaii animals or cool-looking mecha.
muteboy

It’s the Poltergeist 2 Mezcal Worm!
- Chupacabara
  
  LOL!!!! Good reference.
  
  How about a Baby Prescient Navigator from Dune?
Stefan Jones

Stick one of these in the kids’ bedroom closet. Make them stay up late to watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Make it wriggle and bleat at 3:00 am.

Leave in a basket on an astronaut’s doorstep, with a note from its ET mother, at a time when the astronaut’s wife is home. Ring doorbell and run.
Anonymous

I’d hit it.
- gwailo_joe
  
  Yes, I would also hit it. With a stick!
  
  Horrible, just horrible. . .
  
  Love the comments, this is why BB is so cool: Thalidomide, needle teeth and Poltergeist 2: “God is innnn his holy temple, earthly thoughts be silent now” Check check and check. yay gross mutant robots!
Anonymous

It’s a albino baby fluke from the X-Files *shudder*
andyhavens

This ain’t the Uncanny Valley. It’s the Uncanny Ditch.