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Face-morphing robot can look like anyone

The WD-2 robot is a pretty amazing piece of technology. It can't walk, talk, compute awesomely complex equations, or carry heavy objects. What it can do, however, is morph to look like anyone's face. Created by researchers at Tokyo University, the WD-2 has "17 facial points, for a total of 56 degrees of freedom," whatever that means.

Made from a material called Septom, which is both very rigid as well as malleable, it's able to shift to match nearly any facial structure. It's certainly a creepy idea, one that I can't quite see the practical benefits of. It's also incredible to watch doing its thing, as a realistic face seems to morph on the fly into another, completely different realistic face. Technology is a crazy thing, isn't it?

Robot World News, via The Raw Feed

 
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(2) Comments

cyborg5001:
This technology would be good for the facial reconstruction people that work with crime victims. If they could see ...More »


Comments

By RobertHGoretsky at 5:14 PM ON 09/18/07

I wonder if similar technology can be used to create online avatars.. You basically could specify a set of values to 'create' your face in any environment.. Interesting stuff..

Comment by Robert H. Goretsky of Hoboken, NJ

By cyborg5001 at 5:45 PM ON 09/18/07

This technology would be good for the facial reconstruction people that work with crime victims. If they could see the face in 3D rather than just a drawing, they could possibly get a lot more detailed.


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