Eva the android and the creepy robot pirates

Not a Vegas lounge act, but a project by David Hanson, a doctoral student at the University of Texas's Institute for Interactive Arts and Engineering. David has gone very far into facial-expression recognition… too far, in fact — we're pretty sure we'll have nightmares after having seen these two videos. Now, we see a lot of ridiculous-looking robots, and a fair number of downright creepy droids, cross the news desk here at Engadget, but we have never seen a robot with a goatee and an eye patch (okay, Disneyworld, but that doesn't count). Nor have we seen anything quite as disturbing as the facial-expressions exhibited by Eva, a poor victim of advances in elastomer material sciences, whose lot in life is as a neck sprouting awkwardly from a table. Peep the videos, friends, but your retinas will never be quite the same.

Video: Robot pirate [.mov / .wmv]
Video: Eva the unfortunate [.mov]

[Permanent4 @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

I know it's only a coincidence that Eva has the same name as a psycho ex-girlfriend I dated in college, but damn...

[w00ter @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Create a fully working body at that, and I'll date her any time! :p

[ikkedus @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

That's cool. How do you make one? Get someone's head, take the flesh out and put it on a stick?

Oh my! There's an other one at the near end of the movie!

[Whiplash @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

I don't see what's so great about this. I've seen better robotic heads in B horror movies.

[All Music Site @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Imagine in a year of ten...

[Summer @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Hanson's at the University of Texas at Dallas, which is separate in location and administration from UT. UTD is the university with the Institute for Interactive Arts and Engineering (http://iiae.utdallas.edu/).

[nick @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

scary!!!

[acidreflux @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Whiplash:

Horror movies machines were not designed to display facial expressions synchronous to autonomous speech.
Second, this is a interactive device [Eva], unlike horror flicks.
That is what makes this news.



I wonder how many servos he used for the face?

The cell phone ringing was extrememly annoying.

I especially enjoyed the "sulk" face and gritting of the teeth (whatever that was supposed to be...I guess anger?)

It sounded like two voices were talking at the same time, which was annoying.

[asidreflux @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

If you have ever seen Total Recall, just look at Eva and think about the scene with the line: "Two weeks".

[kenny @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

"Two weeks." is soooo right...looks like a younger version of her...

Also if you darken her skin a bit, maybe widen her head just a little(its a little thin), and throw some headband, and just below head length hair...and call her Alyx ....with the demo they showed like at E3 2003...where they show the emotion/facial expressions off.

[Kevbo @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

It's craptacular. Am I missing something special about these creations? Something innovative?

Is Eva recognizing and reacting to facial expressions of the person in front of it? Or is it merely a horrible attempt to mimic common facial expressions?

Either way it's visually horrid and will indeed haunt me for a while. I've decided not to spend the money on that Real Doll. Thanks engadget!

[Ian Wilson @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

David is at the forefront of humanoid robots with the ability to display facial gestures (someone should fund him). There are two other leading companies, both in Japan, that have equally impressive technology that is getting better every day (but still has some way to go yet).

Sorry, links do not seem to show up in these comments, have a look at my blog (link above) there are a few posts with links there, especially the one titled "Robot Focus"