A robotic performance: Japanese android actress Geminoid F appears on stage alongside human in play

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O87gCOv-X0cendofvid

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By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Geminoid F in her stage debut in a play in Japan. The android took part in a play alongside a human actress


Her performance could perhaps be described as being a little mechanical.
But this new actress treading the boards in Tokyo has a good excuse: she's a robot.

Humanoid robot Geminoid F has appeared on stage alongside a human actress for the first time in a play called 'Sayonara,' or 'Goodbye', last week.

Geminoid F - a robot designed to look and act like a human - played alongside a human actress, American Bryerly Long. in a play directed by Japanese director Oriza Hirata.


Geminoid F remained seated on a chair throughout the performance, while she carried out conversations and monologues


'It won't be that a robot replaces human beings on a drama stage, it's more as if a new type of actor has emerged in the theatrical world,' said Hirata, who had already put on two plays featuring ordinary, non-android robots.

Long plays a girl suffering from a fatal illness whose parents hire an android carer and then abandon her. The android, made to resemble a part-Russian, part-Japanese woman with long hair parted in the middle, recites poetry to her.

Seated on a chair throughout the performance, the human-sized Geminoid F carried out conversations and monologues, dressed in a dark, scoop-necked shirt and dark trousers.

Her eyes blinked and her chest rose and fell as if she was breathing even as she spoke, smiled and looked surprised, though her faced lacked the depth of expression of a real person.

Her voice and gestures were created by an actress in a soundproof chamber behind the stage whose head and body movements were detected by a camera and replicated by the android. Microphones were used for her voice.

Geminoid F was produced by Hiroshi Ishiguro, a renowned robot designer at Osaka University in western Japan, whose usual androids come with a steep $1.2 million price tag.


American actress Bryerly Long worked alongside the robot in a Japanese play titled Sayonara. She said Geminioid F t lacks 'human presence', making her feel 'alone' on stage


A model (right) touches the face of a humanoid robot called 'Geminoid-F' shaped to resemble her


For the play, he modified one to give it only the bare essentials needed to preform the given acting, which cut costs to one-tenth of the usual. All the android's movements were carried out with only 12 motors.

'Androids can look very similar to human actors, but more than that, we can technically create a superior actor by featuring all the good techniques of human actors such as staring, moving and talking,' said Ishiguro.

Despite the raves, Geminoid F's human counterpart said she felt as if she was performing solo.

'There's a bit of distance. The robot has a quite particular position because it's got a voice, but it's not some kind of human presence,' Long said.

Some in the audience also had doubts.

'It looked like an android playing an android,' said 28-year-old Chihiro Aikawa.
Hirata said androids are not only good actors but also great for boosting ticket sales. About 600 people were expected to watch the play over a two-day Tokyo run.

'All of their acting problems can ultimately be solved if I only invest enough time, and the audience always loves to see them acting,' he said.


source: dailymail
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