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Japanese Institute Unveils 'Fashion Model Robot'

by Thomas Ricker on March 16, 2009 at 11:06 AM

While that perv in the back is busy shooting HRP-4C's firm buttocks shaped from a glossy Stormtrooper alloy, the rest of us can marvel at the fact that Japan has produced a walking, talking fashion robot. Standing at just over 5-feet tall and 95-pounds, HRP-4C, developed by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, will make its catwalk debut next week at the Tokyo fashion show.

The she-bot features 30 motors spread throughout its body with an additional eight motors in its face for expressing general boredom and disgust with the help. Its main purpose is entertainment and to attract crowds much like its fleshy counterparts -- so don't expect home cooked meals and laundry service should you take the $200,000 robot home. Unfortunately, HRP-4C didn't function as planned today. Reports say that the robot, "kept looking surprised, opening its mouth and eyes in a stunned expression, when the demonstrator had asked it to smile or look angry." Hmm, sounds like a fully functional model-slash-actress to us. [Via Straits Times]

Tags: fashion model, FashionModel, hrp-4c, japan, model, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, NationalInstituteOfAdvancedIndustrialScienceAndTechnology, niaist, robot

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