Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Meet Your Miniature Android Duplicate
Get an android doll forty centimeters tall custom-made from your photograph by Little Island - just $2,215. It's equipped with a computer, 80 gig solid state disk and Ethernet; the software is stable Win XP.
And now the android duplicate video.
('Mini-Me' android robot video)
As you can see, this is not a walking, gesturing version of yourself, so fewer worries there. However, it can mimic your voice and even speak your words for you. The Little Island website is not clear, but it appears that you can sit your look-alike doll at a meeting and then speak through it remotely.
I'm now picturing a meeting of people who were all too important to attend in person; it looks like one of my daughter's tea parties.
Just remember the word "Shutdown" - that forces the off switch.
At some point, of course, they will add robotic movement and allow you to download yourself into one; then you'll have a ditto blank like the ones in David Brin's 2002 novel Kiln People.
Most of the ditto blanks that people buy are made elsewhere, but I did glimpse some specialty items as we swept by - rigid figures dimly visible inside translucent packing crates, some of them uncannily tall, or gangly, or shaped like animals out of some legend. Not everyone can handle being imprinted into a non-standard human shape, but I hear it's a growing fashion among trendsetters...
(Read more about Brin's ditto blanks)
Now that I'm thinking about it, I think that there is an earlier short story with a similar kind of theme. In his 1938 short story The Robot and the Young Lady, Manly Wade Wellman writes about a rather unprepossessing man who tries to impress his blind date by sending a tall, handsome teleoperated robot. The robot goes to the restaurant, and meets the beautiful Miss Winthrop, who is a perfect match for the handsome robot. As it turns out, though, Miss Winthrop has also sent a robot! (Bet you never saw that one coming.)
This story is actually a very early version of the idea of a teleoperated robot; read more about Wellman's excellent description of a teleoperated robot surrogate.
I can't remember other sf films or stories with similar themes offhand, but I'm sure there must be lots of them. Readers?
From Little Island [English].
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 2/5/2009)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Athena Smart Security Guard Robot With Face Recognition
'You are who we say you are, Dr. Dakin,' Turner said.' - Greg Bear, 2003.
SpaceHopper Microgravity Robot Lands On Its Feet
'...a slender-legged tripod surmounted by a spherical body no larger than a football.' - Arthur C. Clarke, 1972.
No Tips! Robotic Food Delivery In Phoenix
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.' Robert Heinlein, 1962.
Micro-Robots Are Smallest, Fully Functional
'With a whir, the Scarab shot from the concealing shadows of the corner where it had hidden itself.' - Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
SpaceX Intros Extravehicular Activity Suit
'Provision had been made to meet the terrific cold which we knew would be encountered the moment we had passed beyond the atmosphere.'
Athena Smart Security Guard Robot With Face Recognition
'You are who we say you are, Dr. Dakin,' Turner said.'
The FLUTE Project - A Huge Liquid Mirror In Space
'It's area, and its consequent light-gathering capacity, was many times greater than any rigid mirror...'
Robot Preachers Found To Undermine Religious Commitment
'Tell me your torments,' the Padre said, in an elderly voice marked with compassion.
CyberCab - Tesla Renames The Robotaxi
'A cybercab dogged their heels...'
SpaceHopper Microgravity Robot Lands On Its Feet
'...a slender-legged tripod surmounted by a spherical body no larger than a football.'
Brin's 1990 Novel Earth Still Full Of Predictions
'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
'Whisper Mode' ala Blue Thunder Researched At Bristol
'Forest Lawn.'
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth?
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Photo
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
Splendid View Of Eclipse From Orbit Visualized And Repurposed By Arthur C. Clarke
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
Bespoke Environment Music From AIs
'Call 'em Winter Mute," said the other, making it two words.'
Goldene - A Two-Dimensional Sheet Of Gold One Atom Thick
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
