Video: Japanese robot reads aloud from books, whispers vague threats while you sleep

Perhaps our Future Robot Overlords™ aren't planning on decimating the human population after they take over -- they might have a good reason to retain a handful of bipedal hominidae. Who knows, really? But we're betting that if they do, the lucky slave population is going to want to hear some bed-time stories from time to time. To that end, Japanese researchers have developed Ninomiya-kun, a 3.2-foot tall aluminum-framed robot capable of reading aloud from printed material. Developed at Waseda University and recently unveiled at a trade fair in Kitakyushu, the bad boy uses cameras to "read" the text, which it parses with OCR software before synthesizing its voice. As far as we can tell, this thing still sounds like a machine, and it's vocabulary is somewhat limited (it can currently recognize over 2,000 kanji, hiragana and katakana characters), but researchers are working on a more lifelike voice and a broader vocabulary. After that, the developers would like to unload this thing on elementary schools and old folks homes, whose population won't find this thing creepy or disconcerting at all, at all. We're sure of it. Peep the video after the break.

[Via Pink Tentacle]

[OneLove @ Jun 17th 2009 3:44PM]

Have the Japanese stopped making other products? Robots! Robots!

[Makavre @ Jun 17th 2009 3:46PM]

everything else has been outsourced to india ...

[Nathan Otis @ Jun 17th 2009 3:47PM]

"Why won't the Japanese stop making scary robots!?"

I fixed it for you...

[xconan @ Jun 17th 2009 9:58PM]

@Nathan Otis

Because they haven't created a mobile suit Gundam yet. (it's not robot since there is no A.I.)

[PGP-Protector @ Jun 17th 2009 3:49PM]

So it's a fancy scanner with OCR & a voice Synthesizer ?

[Brad @ Jun 17th 2009 4:47PM]

Yeah. Basically, its the same as the Xerox PARC project from the late 90s, as part of their "Reading Room". Sure, theirs was shaped like a freaky giant metal dog, but it worked the same way. OCR + StT.

[bigcow05 @ Jun 17th 2009 3:52PM]

Software to synthesize Japanese text has already been developed:

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=1169267

So isn't this a scanner with an OS that runs the synthesizer and OCR software?

Impressive nonetheless though, Japanese text must be very difficult to synthesize due to the multiple readings for Kanji.

[CtrlBurn @ Jun 17th 2009 3:55PM]

Am I the only one getting tired of the joke about robots taking over and enslaving mankind? Can we get a story about robots that doesn't focus entirely on how evil the robot is?

[AMiSH PiRATE @ Jun 17th 2009 3:56PM]

Joke?

[superhobo @ Jun 17th 2009 4:55PM]

Joke...? THIS...IS...MADNESS!!!

[CtrlBurn @ Jun 17th 2009 4:57PM]

I guess I'm the only one.

[Roberto @ Jun 17th 2009 3:56PM]

Hopefully, the writers syndicate will not gift Ninomiya-kun's bloody head to their CEO by his feet under the bedsheets.

[Terry @ Jun 17th 2009 3:56PM]

™ (TM)

[Terry @ Jun 17th 2009 3:59PM]

didn't mean to hit send, sorry... But since I'm commenting:

+1 for contortionist-in-a-box.

[RandyFD @ Jun 17th 2009 4:07PM]

It's Skynet's daddy :P

[JR @ Jun 17th 2009 4:39PM]

Mmm, I want this thing to read to my kids.

[superhobo @ Jun 17th 2009 4:45PM]

Not really that creepy.

OCR + voice synthesis.

[jinsei888 @ Jun 17th 2009 5:03PM]

lol I can't wait til these things kill us! :D

[steve @ Jun 17th 2009 5:44PM]

How long before they get sued by the writers guild???

[PGP-Protector @ Jun 17th 2009 5:56PM]

That's only if you hand it a Kindle to read.

[allislost @ Jun 18th 2009 9:31AM]

awesome headline...