The Kissenger
This one came onto my radar and I thought It was too good not to share.
Kissenger! And I’m talking about Henry!
For those who have experienced long distance relationships, you will appreciate this new technology, the Kissenger. We have skype and all the benefits of being able to see each other on line, but imagine being able to share a kiss through new technology created by Dr Hooman Saumani, an artificial intelligence researcher from Lovotics. Lovotics refers to the research of human to robot relationships. (Stay with me here).
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSckuNlzQdM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
So it looks like an interesting concept (except for the noise the lips make when they kiss).
In order not to get anything lost in translation, I thought I would take this straight from their website.
“Kissenger system consists of a pair of robots to transfer kiss over distance. Kissenger provides a novel way of transferring a kiss through interactive digital media. It provides a physical interface enabling kiss communication for several applications facilitating intimate human tele-presence with the real and virtual worlds. Kissing is a very important mode of human communication that involves joining lips in order to express many deep felt positive emotions such as affection, respect, greeting, farewell, good luck, romantic affection or sexual desire. Apart from the surface level enjoyment humans have by kissing, it also plays a crucial biologically motivated role in allowing prospective mates to smell and taste each other’s pheromones for detecting compatibility. With the aid of digital communication media and advanced robotic technology, the system takes the form of an artificial mouth that provides the convincing properties of the real kiss.”
Staring at a photo of two child like cartoon characters with pouty lips, I wondered how on earth this really works. So let try another video.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlK1w-BUL3A&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
This was all going fine until I heard the sentence “ the human to robot kiss which enables an intimate relationships with a robot” and the icing on the cake, “ the robot to robot kiss”.
I’m sorry lovotics. I don’t think we are quite there yet. Lest try and get human to human relationships right before we revert to robots!
For now, those wanting to stay connecting during times apart, stick to skype and if you really feel like being intimate on line, there is always naked skype!
And Dr Samuni, don’t worry about trying to work out how to connect us with robots, just make me the perfect man! If he can work out how to electronically replicate a kiss, I’m sure it’s possible (well I’m praying at least it is).
Happy Kissing (hopefully a human)
Dr NikkiG
