For those who would like to hold someone's hand as they walk around, but can't find anyone human who will oblige, engineers at Gifu University in Japan have invented the "My Girlfriend in Walk". It's a robotic hand covered in soft, skin-like gel that will grip your hand. Plus, it emits the scent of a woman's shampoo, and (through a smartphone app) can simulate the sounds of breathing and rustling clothes.
The inventors hope that it might help people who have been isolated due to the pandemic.
Elle.com reports on a perfume designed by artificial intelligence. So, when the robots take over, at least they'll smell nice.
what if an AI-created perfume could be more than a simple blend? In 2017, the Brazilian cosmetics company O Boticário decided to find out. It approached IBM Research to help design two perfumes using only artificial intelligence...
Because [The AI program] wasn’t programmed with tradition or emotion, it never had a mentor to instill “the way things are done.” For example, it selected fenugreek seed, which perfumers often avoid because it’s tricky to work with, as well as a frothy, milklike aroma from Symrise’s flavor division. “I wasn’t even aware of the note,” Apel says. “When I saw that happen, it really hit me: This was a unique approach.” O Boticário tested the AI fougère and ended up bottling it. The scent, called Egeo on You, launched in 2019, along with a machine-made feminine counterpart called Egeo on Me.
With its two legs the Animan TV follows you from room to room, dances to commercials, and even leans into the curves during chase scenes. Equipped with its top-mounted security camera, it patrols the house and sounds an alarm if it detects a prowler.
The Foldimate. Hoping to be available for purchase by the end of this year. Target price: $980.
I could see that it might be a useful convenience in places with shared laundry facilities, like apartment buildings. But it would seem a bit extravagant for a single-family home.
We recently posted about a Japanese company (Gatebox) that had created a "digital wife"... a device that created a holographic companion for lonely people. Now 35-year-old Akihiko Kondo has married his hologram companion. From sde.co.ke:
Since March, Kondo has been living with a moving, talking hologram of Miku that floats in a ShSh280,000 ( $2,800) desktop device.
Gatebox, the company that produces the hologram device has issued a "marriage certificate," which certifies that a human and a virtual character have wed "beyond dimensions".
The singer welcomes Kndo home every evening and tells him when it is time for bed. He even sleeps with a doll of the hologram beside him.
I'd bet money that the 'marriage' is a publicity stunt engineered by Gatebox.
The mirror, apparently only available as a prototype right now, has a sexy male voice that will compliment and chat with the woman looking into the mirror. Incorporating a monitor display, camera, and speaker, the device can scan and read the emotions of the user from her face, changing the way it interacts accordingly.
This reminds me of the Digital Wife I posted about recently. Seems like another device aimed at the large number of Japanese people who seem to live alone.
Gatebox recently announced that its Boku no Yome ("My Wife") device is now ready for sale. Though it'll cost you $1352, plus $13.52 a month if you want the subscription fee for future updates.
I'm not sure if it would be cheaper to just get a cat.
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.