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In this global economic downtown, just about everyone is worried about keeping their jobs and showing why they should remain on the payroll. But who knew high-fashion models who strut the catwalks would be at risk? Not because the fashion industry is slowing down the output of seasonal collections, but because robots can do the job — without landing themselves in the tabloids for rumoured drug use or anorexia. Less fuss, right?
Japanese researchers on Monday unveiled HRP-4C, a fashion robot ready to rock the Tokyo catwalk later this month. As the Associated Press reports: "The girlie-faced humanoid with slightly oversized eyes, a tiny nose and a shoulder length hair-do boasts 42 motion motors programmed to mimic the movements of flesh-and-blood fashion models." Remember the Harrison Ford flick, Bladerunner, anyone? Robotics are not just for vacuuming and vehicle assembly anymore.
This one is custom-made for a Japanese audience. At 5'2", she's the average height of Japanese women aged 19 to 29, but weighs only 95 pounds, including batteries. That's right. Even the model robots are scary-skinny.
More from AP at the media premiere at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology outside Tokyo:
"If we had made the robot too similar to a real human, it would have been uncanny," said one of the inventors, humanoid research leader Shuji Kajita.
"We have deliberately leaned toward an anime style."
The institute said the robot "has been developed mainly for use in the entertainment industry" but is not for sale at the moment.
Hamming it up before photographers and television crews, the seductive cyborg struck poses, flashed bright smiles and pouted sulkily according to commands transmitted wirelessly from journalists via bluetooth devices.
Just like you've heard about the runway gals, this fashionista doesn't eat either.
(Photo: Japan's government-sponsored research laboratory AIST unveils its new humanoid robot HRP-4C who is 158cm tall and weighing 43kg. Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images)
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