The robot mouth aims to do almost everything a regular throat can do. Picture courtesy Kagawa University Source: Supplied
- Rubber mouth sings nursery rhyme
- Hopes for prosthetic implants
- More disturbing than smelly robot armpit?
No doubt Professor Hideyuki Sawada had nothing but the best intentions in mind when developing his "robot mouth", which was given a YouTube outing this week.
It's supposed to mimic the human vocal system by utilising eight artificial vocal chords and adjusting the pitch and tone as it listens to itself.
Prof Sawada's public demonstration proved it could do just that ... as long as the human vocal system it was trying to mimic belonged to a Tuvan throat-singer.
The point of it all is to eventually find a way to give a prosthetic voice to those who have lost theirs through injury or disease, and it's currently in use as a voice-training device for deaf people.
It's a noble cause, obviously. But it's fair to say Prof Sawada and his team at the Kagawa University could do with some marketing expertise on their side.
There's no other way to say it - the "robot mouth" is such a nightmarish creation it would have David Lynch demanding it be put out of its misery, for the love of God.
Tech sites have been having a field day giggling at its flagrant obscenity.
Gizmodo put it best by labelling it a "singing Fleshlight", referencing the infamous rubber organ that helps lonely keyboard-botherers, well, erm ... never mind.
Honestly, Prof Sawada should have seen it coming. Are they nasal hairs protruding from its proboscis?
Despite this, the robot mouth does a passable version of Japanese children's song Kagome Kagome, hitting some bowel-loosening notes on the way to internet viral stardom.
The UK's Daily Mail predicts one day it may even be able to mimic Old Rubber Lips himself, Sir Mick Jagger.
Now there's a goal that would give Prof Sawada real satisfaction.
0 comments:
Post a Comment