Hiroshi Ishiguro Unveils Geminoid HI-6: The Latest Lifelike Robot Replica of Himself

When Hiroshi Ishiguro, a Japanese engineer, showed off a robot that looked just like him in 2006, it shocked everyone. The Geminoid HI-1 humanoid was an amazing technical feat—it was an exact copy of Ishiguro, down to the smallest details. After almost 20 years, Ishiguro has made six versions of this robot twin, each one smarter than the last. To put it simply, Geminoid HI-6 is out of this world.

The Geminoid HI-6 is so realistic that it stands out at the Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories at Osaka University. The robot looks and feels a lot like a real person. It has human hair, silicone skin, and facial emotions that can change in real time. But this isn't just a static show; the HI-6 can now interact with people by using an integrated language model to answer questions. This makes it not only a copy of Ishiguro in terms of how it looks, but also how it works.

The Geminoid HI-6 is only 50 cm tall and 25 cm wide. It may be small, but its insides are anything but easy. With its 16 pneumatic actuators and complex metal frame, the robot can move in many ways that are similar to how humans do. Its upper body and facial emotions have 53 degrees of freedom, so it can tilt its head, raise its eyebrows, and even smile or frown. All of these movements are smooth, just like a person would.

It is clear that Ishiguro's dream of making a robot that looks and moves like a person is coming true, but the Geminoid HI-6 does have some problems. The robot can't walk yet because the way it's built now only lets it move its top body. But Ishiguro has hinted that future versions might be able to walk on two legs, which would bring us even closer to the idea of robots that can move and talk like people.

Ishiguro originally made the Geminoid HI-6 to give talks and presentations for him. It was meant to help him share his work in robots and artificial intelligence. But as technology has improved, the robot has become more useful. Using AI-driven language models to answer questions from the crowd is a big step forward that makes it harder to tell the difference between a person and a machine. The HI-6 can process and react in real time, which is impressive whether it's answering a question about robotics or having a casual chat.

It might be years before we see a fully functional humanoid robot that can walk, talk, and do complicated jobs, but the Geminoid HI-6 is a big step towards that goal. Ishiguro has always been on the cutting edge of robots, so it's exciting to think about what could happen next. With AI getting better all the time, robots that not only look like us but also think and act more like us might be here soon.

Until then, the Geminoid HI-6 will remind us of how far robots has come and how much further it can go.

--