GIA Robot: 'Gestural Interactive Automation' Sculpture Watches You And Reacts (VIDEO)

G.I.A. (Gestural Interactive Automation) wants to be your robot friend. Created by Daniel Jay Bertner, his GIA robot sculpture is anchored to a wall and tracks you as you move by using motion tracking software, interacts with you by using facial recognition software and projects a video image of a human face on a sphere that responds with facial expressions.

Like something out of a David Cronenberg film, GIA isn't the first attempt at creating a robot intended to push the emotional relationship between man and machine. Back in 2010 there was Nao, which modeled the first years of life and "can form bonds with the people he meets." Then there's anything by Hanson Robotics and a number of other attempts to have robots mimic human behavior and musculature (see slideshow of creepy robots below).

As for GIA, the creature-like bot tracks its audience around the room and appears to be watching and following movements from its perch. Meanwhile, the projected facial video can change expression based on gestures or reactions it picks up from the audience. What kind of expressions GIA is capable of aren't detailed, but we can imagine a scowl in response to an angry gesture, or a smile resulting from a friendly wave.

Imagine for a moment the facial recognition and responsiveness of GIA combined with ECCEROBOT, which was developed with artificial joints, tendons and bones mimicking that of a human, and allowing for complex movements.

Not long now until little robotic "David" Fassbenders are running around and starring in commercials.

Related on HuffPost:

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• Meet Jules, the newest and most realistic humanoid robot yet from David Hanson and the team at Hanson Robotics.

• A robot that looks just like its creator (www.newscientist.com).

• Engineers at Kagawa University in Japan are developing a talking robotic version of the human mouth: To enable the robot's speaking abilities, engineers at Japan's Kagawa University used an air pump, artificial vocal chords, a resonance tube, a nasal cavity, and a microphone attached to a sound analyzer as substitutes for human vocal organs.

• ACTROID-F in AIST Open Lab 2010.

• Robot modeled after Albert Einstein. Einstein mimics the facial expressions he detects in others. Smile at him, and he'll smile back.

• Cybernetic human dance demo in DCEXPO, 2010.

• Humanoid face created by Hanson Robotics (www.hansonrobotics.com). Robotics scientists at Hanson previously created animatronic puppets for Disney studios.

• Animatronic baby mechanism for anonymous TV series. Built by Chris Clarke for CNFX Workshop.

• Taiwanese Kissing Robots (NTUST Robot) were exhibited in AutoRob2009 in Gwangju, Korea. They were developed by Prof. Chyi-Yeu Lin's research team in National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.

• Robot girl with silicone skin.

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Comments

[imanormalalien]

02:50 PM on 06/02/2012

1:49 "Someday I'll come and find you, and we'll be good friends". lmao

[Norma Desmond]

01:26 AM on 06/02/2012

not good...

[peter krebs]

11:04 PM on 05/28/2012

sounded like a John Lennon Processor, sing us a tune.

[peter krebs]

11:03 PM on 05/28/2012

is that Simon?

[RoboRon]

05:44 PM on 05/26/2012

I simply want my own Rachael from Blade Runner. Is that really so much to ask for? Come on science get your finger out.

[romano70]

11:17 AM on 05/25/2012

This kind of robot are nothing more than computers with a large section of their processing capabilities devoted to fine dexterity and facial expression. By the time we get to that point where they become part of our every-day lives, we will be comfortable with them and non-threatened by their presence

[jenniferkizzy]

12:54 AM on 05/13/2012

robots scare me so freaking much bye they really do

[Pug Man]

02:28 AM on 05/10/2012

The ACTROID-F in AIST Open Lab 2010 Female Asian robot looks and acts real. Not like the crappy "Jules" by Hanson Robotics.

[Catherine Rivera]

11:14 AM on 05/09/2012

Jeez, did they have to give it a face like Anne Lively underwater in Minority Report?

[Brian Daly]

11:03 AM on 05/09/2012

This will one day greet people at the door. The door to our apocalyptic bunker safehouse, where it will decide whether said person is to live or die.

[Kyle Noe]

04:38 AM on 05/09/2012

Cue the comments about Skynet, the apocalypse, playing god, etc.

People, don't confuse science fiction and reality. Please.

[Carol Satterfield]

03:48 PM on 05/08/2012

Arnold how long before you become the real Terminator? Better hurry. Not long before these things will be mobile.