A talking, mugging robot - very British - Lois & Clark Fanfic Message Boards

Well, the robot in this video does not have a heart of gold, since that would probably be too expensive. Maybe it's the lack of gold in the robot's heart that makes him say that he would like to get rid of humanity. (Wonder if his heart is made of silicon? Or is his heart just an ordinary battery?)

Anyway, it's pretty amazing how this contraption is mugging and talking and looking as human as could be. I mean, it's a machine, for crying out loud! (Oh, its name is Jules, by the way!)

Jules the robot speaks the Queen\'s English and dreams of going on a rampage

Ann

Ok, I'm confused.

I listened to the whole thing and there was no 'mugging' that I noticed.

To me 'mugging' is robbing someone at weapon point.

The facial features were very good, except tha mouth. A deaf person wouldn't be able to lip-read Jules very well.

Very cute little animatronic.

James

That confused me a bit, too, but I think in this case "mugging" refers to making faces to attract attention, as in "mugging for the camera."

Well, I googled 'mug' since I thought that was the best word for 'making faces', and I found that it could mean exactly that. I know that 'mug' usually means using violence on someone and stealing things from them. So what word would you normally use for making faces? I didn't really want 'grimacing'.

Ann

Yes, mugging means making faces, too.

To be honest, I wasn't terribly impressed.

I'm sure it's a huge leap forward for robotics, but it didn't look particularly human to me. In fact, it didn't look much better than one of Disney's current animatronics.

LabRat

I think the most impressive part was the area just above the nose. When Jules brought his eyebrows closer to each other, it really look real. However, when he didn't, there was that curious bump...

was it using AI? or was it just some engineer talking into a microphone and interpreting the words.

I wasn't terribly impressed to be honest.. I agree Disney has done a much better job, and I imagine Industrial Light and Magic just look at it and laugh at how primitive it is.

You may be absolutely right about Disney making better robots, but then again, just possibly Disney's robots aren't as impressive as they look on film. I imagine that if you visited the lab where his creators keep Jules and started filming, you would see Jules doing exactly what you see him doing in this video. But if you visited a Disney studio and started filming their robots, it could be that they wouldn't actually do as much as Jules did here. Maybe it takes a lot of editing and special effects to make Disney's robots look as impressive as they do.

To put it differently: If you had visited the studios or the the places where LnC:TNAOS was shot in the nineties, chances are that you wouldn't really have seen Dean Cain fly.

Ann

No, I wasn't thinking of robots in Disney films, Ann. I was thinking more of the Disney Audio-Animatronics that are used at the Disneyworld and other themeparks. These are real robotic creations used in visitor attractions and displays, rather than some movie trickery.

From Wiki:

Quote

The technology of the AAs (Audio-Animatronics) at the theme parks around the world vary in their sophistication. They range from the blinking and mouth movements at Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room to full body movement, from the mouth to the tip of the fingers at Stitch's Great Escape! at the Magic Kingdom. Current technologies have paved the way for more elaborate AA figures, such as the "Ursula head" at Mermaid Lagoon Theater at Tokyo DisneySea, the Indiana Jones figures inside the Indy attractions at both Disneyland & Tokyo DisneySea, the "swordfighting" pirates inside Disneyland Paris’ version of Pirates of the Caribbean, the "lava/rock monster" inside Journey to the Center of the Earth at Tokyo DisneySea, the "Yeti" inside Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom, or the Roz figure in the Disney's California Adventure attraction "Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!". In the case of the Roz figure, Disney makes the figure seemingly "interact" with guests with help from an unseen ride operator who chooses pre-recorded messages for Roz to "speak", thereby seeming to "react" to individual guests' unique appearances/clothing. One of the newest figures comes with changes to the classic attraction, "Pirates of the Caribbean" at the two American resorts (Disneyland and Walt Disney World), both now featuring characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. The Jack Sparrow figure is based on his portrayer Johnny Depp, even featuring his voice and facial mold.

And if you go here you'll find a selection of video clips that show some of Disney's AAs. (Click on the little thumbnails at the bottom of the viewing screen for more. They run through quite a range, from the earliest models to the most recent creations.)

There just didn't seem to me to be much difference between the animatronics used in Disneyworld's displays and this one.

It's probably hard to tell from a video clip though. The real difference, I guess would be if this robot is simply a collection of motorised lip and facial movements synched to a pre-recorded message - like Disney's AA's- or whether it's actually able to learn and adapt to its environment and making the conversation up as it goes of its own accord.

From what I saw, it seemed to be the former - which for anyone who's been to Disneyworld won't be that impressive. But who knows...? Maybe it's more sophisticated than it looks - or a video clip can show us.

LabRat

I stand corrected, LabRat. Thanks for pointing it out.

Ann