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HRP-4C Robot In Wedding Dress A Mechanical Bride
The HRP-4C female robot appeared in a full bridal dress in an Osaka fashion show yesterday. Truly, the HRP-4C is a mechanical bride, as described in Fritz Lieber's 1954 story of the same name.
Though encumbered by an elaborate wedding dress, the HRP-4C robot easily navigated the ten meter runway at the fashion show. Developed by Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, the female humanoid robot stands just 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs a mere 95 pounds - batteries included.
Watch HRP-4C strut her stuff in this robot fashion video.
(HRP-4C female robot wedding dress fashion video)
Robot developer Kazuhito Yokoi expressed the feelings of many when he said “Like the father of a bride, I feel both happy and sad.”
Fritz Lieber foresaw this future when he wrote in 1954:
Each one is powered by thirty-seven midget electric motors, all completely noiseless, and is controlled by instructions, recorded on magnetic tape, which are triggered off by the sound of your voice and no one else's. There is a built-in microphone that hears everything you say, and an electric brain that selects a suitable answer. The de luxe model is built to your specifications, has fifty different facial expressions, sings two hundred love songs, and can carry on a thousand fascinating conversations...
(Read more about Lieber's mechanical bride)
Learn more about the HRP-4C female robot; via Pink Tentacle.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/23/2009)
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