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posted by janrinok on Tuesday December 20 2016, @04:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the more-money-than-sense dept.

Welcome to the future:

The future is apparently here. And it's creepier than we ever imagined—even when we were playing around with tethering Teddy Ruxpin to the Internet. A Japanese company called Vinclu ("a company that makes crazy things and supports crazy people") is now taking pre-orders from Japan and the United States for a new interactive, artificial-intelligence driven home automation system. Called Gatebox, the new Internet-of-Things product takes Amazon's Alexa, Google Home, Spike Jonze's film Her , and the "holographic" anime characters of Vocaloid concerts to their unified natural conclusion.

Wait, what?

Gatebox, priced at ¥321,840 (about $2,700 US), is squarely targeted at young lonely salarymen and all brands of anime-obsessed otaku—promising the experience of "living with your favorite character." The size of a home coffee-maker, with a footprint no larger than a sheet of A4 printer paper, the device's main feature is a clear projection tube that displays a computer-animated avatar for the AI's "character." Vinclu apparently is planning multiple possible personalities for Gatebox—which, as part of the device's backstory, is a gateway to the dimension the character lives in.

A company like this could release the first strong AI product (kawaii slave?).

Beginner's definition of "waifu" for the uninitiated.

Update: Another article indicates that "[There's also] HDMI and PC inputs to allow the owner to make their own modifications and create their own characters."


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday December 20 2016, @08:28PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday December 20 2016, @08:28PM (#444018) Journal

    I did the tiniest amount of research and found this on an alternate article [newatlas.com]:

    Meant for a home environment, the Gatebox weighs only 5 kg (11 lb) and is designed to fit easily in an ordinary flat. It uses a range of AC currents from 100 to 240 V, and includes a stereo speaker, camera, microphone, tracking sensors, temperature and humidity sensor, and light sensor. It uses a rear projection system to provide the illusion of the anime character hologram, can make Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections, and has an infrared system to control lights and home appliances. There's also has HDMI and PC inputs to allow the owner to make their own modifications and create their own characters.

    It looks like they are not even trying to create a walled garden here. Makes you wonder how you would go about overriding the defaults. They have a voice actor, but I assume the hobbyist would use Vocaloid with a text script...

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