A Wakamaru robot, named Momoko for a performance at Japan’s Osaka University, appears onstage alongside actress Minako Inoue.
The Wakamaru normally a domestic robot is primarily meant as a companion for seniors and the disabled. It uses a laser and cameras to track and identify people, and recognizes approximately 10,000 words necessary for daily life.
Tuesday marked the theatrical debut for the robot, which appeared onstage alongside real-life actors in Hataraku Watashi (”I, Worker”), by playwright Oriza Hirata. The Play focuses on a couple who own two housekeeping robots, one of which loses its motivation to work.
The 20-minute production took place at Japan’s Osaka University–where Hirata is also a visiting professor at the Center of the Study of Communication-Design–and was performed for the media ahead of a possible full-scale public run in the next year or so. Hirata and the rest of the project team wrote special software that lets the robots move and deliver the right lines.
Soon all liberal arts majors will be repalced by robots.
“Soon all liberal arts majors will be repalced by robots.”
LMAO! I thought they already were robots, just poorly programmed ones.
A Liberal Arts Degree only qualifies you to do one thing: teach Liberal Arts.
Well, that AND give museum tours. Ba Boom Crash.
XD there is more than just “Theatre” under liberal arts yous guys…
Look out Keanu, don’t have to pay the robot.
@SumoSnipe: Yeah, but maintenance will be an arm and a leg…
yeah but robots dont get drunk and make for an easy lay at parties. Oh and the technical theatre degrees actually are worth something, a moving light console programmer can make six figures if they are good.