Almax Mannequins, "I see you looking at me looking at you..."

As if the holiday shopping season were not painful enough, the mannequin manufacturer Almax, of Italy, introduced the EyeSee Mannequin which uses facial recognition software to gather data about shoppers.  As Almax proudly exclaims, "This product will do much more; it would make it possible to "observe" who is attracted by your windows and reveal important details about your customers:

Autons from Dr. Who, "Spearhead from Space"

age range; gender; race; number of people and time spent."  Almax has installed cameras in the mannequin's eyes and a computer in its torso.  By gathering data about who is looking at the mannequin, the stores hope to better market its merchandise.  What next?  Will Almax install guns in the hands of this faux humans to "protect" the store?  Mannequins are already creepy; adding the ability to secretly gather data about you when you walk past makes them dangerous.  Did no one learn about the dangers of intelligent mannequins from the Dr. Who episode "Spearhead From Space?"

Robots We Should Fear

Robots of today, although more functional, lack the terrifying intrigue of their mid-century tin counterparts. The Lilliput, a classic wobbling robot, evokes the image of restless authority that the blank faced ASIMO or EVA lack.  Perhaps its pointy teeth imply a self-destructive craving for human flesh and kittens.  Even more fearsome is the Smoking Robot.  As the name implies, this robots "exhales" smoke.  Why?  Perhaps it emits greenhouse gases, plotting to slowly destroy the world through global warming.  Robots don't care about time or solar radiation.

Smoking Robot

Today, you can purchase a desk top robot tank.  Resembling a Smart car, the "Desk Pet" hardly evokes the science fiction horror of yesteryear. Where is the fake laser, sparking maw, and claws?  Lilliput maybe slow, but once it starts gnawing Desk Pet's "supplied dongle," order will be restored to un-nature.

ASIMO

Desk Pet Tankbot

FLASH: Robot Marathon Has Begun

This Care-Bot is designed to pick up the elderly who have
fallen and can't get up.

Owners of the robots (that won't always be the case) are allowed to change batteries, but if the bot falls over, it has to get up on its own, or with the help of another bot.

Electric Babies

I have to admit that I am a little jealous of the technological vision of Japan.  When it comes to integrating robots into our daily lives, the Japanese (and Chinese) are light years ahead of us in Waco, Texas (if not all of the US).  From the very first toy robots to the emotionally expressive robots, there is a passion for robots that Americans lack.  Currently, Japan is preparing to send a "human-like" robot into space.  Vstone of Japan put together the first ever robot marathon race called "Robo Mara Full."  Roboticist (a new word for me) Minoru Asada has created a table top robot baby head which imitates realistic human baby expressions. Having had a real child for a number of years, I am not certain that this is something I would ask for for Christmas, but it is pretty cool none the less. All of this is wonderfully weird and it tells me that when a Japanese student takes time to dream of the future, she sees a very different world than I do.  I have not dreamed of a world where machines are human.