Face of Things to Come in Robots
From: Dallas Morning News - 11/07/2006
By: Victor Godinez

David Hanson believes that the market for personal robots is about to take a
significant step forward on the strength of advances in technology and a
better understanding of what people want in a robot. Hanson, a doctoral
student at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), recently won a $1.5
million grant to commercialize the humanoids he is developing. Hanson
describes his product as a "consumer character bot," more than a simple
novelty or toy. He is not a believer in the "uncanny valley" theory, which
states that people are not comfortable around robots that look very human.
Rather, he thinks that realistic robots are useless unless they are
indistinguishable from people; for example, he has been working on a Phillip
K. Dick robot. Specializing in the face, which he calls "the weak link for
conversational robots," Hanson uses skin-like "frubber" and numerous motors
to perfect facial movement and expression. Currently, a life-sized robot
would cost around $130,000, but Hanson thinks mass production could bring the
price down to $2,000, and smaller droids to $300. He also thinks that the
first of his robots could walk off the assembly line as soon as six months
from now. Dr. Mihai Nadin, who holds the Ashbel Smith Professorship in
Interactive Arts, technology, and Computer Science at UTD, says robots such
as Hanson's could have very practical uses, such as helping the elderly to
follow doctor's orders at home by taking their medicine as scheduled. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/110806dnbusrobots.2efc443.html

Links:
Hanson Robotics
http://hansonrobotics.com/index.php

Mihai Nadin
http://ah.utdallas.edu/people/mnadin.html