Canadian Man Builds Himself Anatomically-Correct 'Femme-Bot'

How much do you love robots? Enough to max out three credit cards building one? Well, Le Trung has done just that in creating Aiko, a 'femme-bot' boasting a vocabulary comprised of 13,000 English and Japanese phrases and capable of distinguishing 300 faces per second.

Trung, a native of Brampton, Ontario, has been building robots his whole life. He built his first for a science fair in grade four; it couldn't do much, just shoot fake bullets and move about a little bit. Teachers weren't pleased when one of those fake bullets hit another child, either. "You get disqualified if you make a little kid cry, even if the sign says 'Do not touch!'" Trung laughed.

Trung's parents weren't always keen on his hobby, either. Instead, they wanted him to become a doctor, or perhaps an engineer. He remembers them putting it quite simple: "'When you grow up, you have got to be studying medicine or something. No robots.'"

It seems Le Trung isn't much of a listener.

Even as he pursued a career in biochemistry, racking up three university degrees, Trung continued to work on robots and robot software on the side. His programming skills were a key reason he was able to complete Aiko.

Trung began construction of five-foot tall, 32-kilogram Aiko last summer. An amalgam of sensors, motors, and wires, Aiko is covered in a thin silicone skin. Her face is realistically constructed, part of the reason Trung was forced to spend a whopping $20,000 completing his project (just the silicone cost about $6,000). Trung insists it was necessary; from day one his intent was to build a life-like robot, dismissing the chance to use cheaper rubber because "it looks creepy when you touch it and it doesn't look as real."

"Aiko is what happens when science meets beauty," Trung remarked. (Source: telegraph.co.uk)

Despite the fact that Aiko can read a newspaper, give Trung a weather report, and even differentiate between types of medicine, she can't yet walk. In order to get her moving about, Trung faces the installation of another fourteen motors totalling about $7,000.

So, what is Aiko for?

Trung insists that he plans to continually increase her domestic functionality (he wants to make her do his chores), but dismisses the idea that there may be, how can I put this, 'adult' reasons for her creation. You see, Aiko is anatomically correct. In fact, she will even talk 'dirty' if prompted.

"Does she have breasts? I will say yes. Does she have nipples? I will say yes. Does she have a vagina? I will say yes. Are there sensors there? I will say yes," Trung admitted. (Source: ctv.ca)

Technology breakthrough or not, I'm washing my hands before touching that thing.