Japanese scientist develops first 'female' android

It was bound to happen, and who better than the Japanese to accomplish it – the first human looking android robot. Like some fantasy science-fiction concept out of a Manga or Anime comic book, a Japanese scientist is  well on the way to creating the perfect companion – to a male scientist that is – a beautiful Japanese female robot with silicone skin that mimics human behavior and has over 30 sensory receptors. And his greatest challenge – to fool people into thinking that his Robots are human. I wonder if Asimov would be jumping for joy or rolling in his grave...From the BBC article (click to see the picture – quite amazing!! - looks like a Stepford Wife!)

Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet devised - a "female" android called Repliee Q1.

She has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner. She can flutter her eyelids and move her hands like a human. She even appears to breathe. Professor Hiroshi Ishiguru of Osaka University says one day robots could fool us into believing they are human.
Repliee Q1 is not like any robot you will have seen before, at least outside of science-fiction movies. She is designed to look human and although she can only sit at present, she has 31 actuators in her upper body, powered by a nearby air compressor, programmed to allow her to move like a human.

Read the full article.... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4714135.stm