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I-Fairy Robot Minister Performs Wedding Ceremony
I-Fairy ordinarily guides visitors in museums and exhibitions, but has been upgraded to be a robot minister. I-Fairy pronounced Satoko Inoue and Tomohiro Shibata man and wife this past Sunday.
(I-Fairy robot minister)
"It's true that robots are what caused us to first begin going out, and as suggested by my wife, we decided that we wanted to try this sort of wedding," Shibata said after making his vows.After saying "I do," the bride said that she wanted to use her wedding to show people that robots can easily fit into their daily lives.
"I always felt that robots would become more integrated into people's everyday lives. This cute robot is part of my company, I decided that I would love to have it at my ceremony," Inoue said.
The wedding ceremony has been billed as the first-ever to be presided over by a robot; however, Technovelgy readers know that this claim is wrong by several years (see Robot 'Minister' Performs Wedding Ceremony ).
Update: A Chicago man claims that he and his wife were the first to have a robot officiate at their wedding. See Chicagoan Stakes Claim to First Robot Wedding and the following video for more. (Thanks, James!)
End update. Science fiction writers have, as usual, been out ahead of the curve. In his 1971 story Good News From The Vatican, writer Robert Silverberg tells the story of a robot cardinal who might one day become pope.
This is the morning everyone has waited for, when at last the robot cardinal is to be elected Pope. There can no longer be any doubt of the outcome... a compromise is in the making. All factions are now agreed on the selection of the robot. This morning I read in Osservatore Romano that the Vatican computer itself has taken a hand in the deliberations. The computer has been strongly urging the candidacy of the robot. I suppose we should not be surprised by this loyalty among machines..."Every era gets the Pope it deserves," Bishop Fitzpatrick observed somewhat gloomily today at breakfast. "The proper Pope for our times is a robot, certainly..."
(Read more about Silverberg's robot pope)
Via Reuters.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/17/2010)
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