Denmark’s first Geminoid

Denmark’s first Geminoid to be presented at Aalborg University On May 16th, Associate Professor Henrik Scharfe at Aalborg University will present the first Caucasian geminoid in the world. A geminoid is a robot, designed to be an exact copy of a living human being. The geminoid is remotely controlled through a computer system that allows the robot to mimic movements of an operator. Dr. Henrik Scharfe is the first European to model for a geminoid. The robot appears as an exact copy right down to details like stubbles, eye color and shoe size. Geminoid-DK – the official name of the robot – has already attracted some attention across the world, and video clips from the designated YouTube channel has been viewed more than 4 million times in a matter of few weeks. Check out the video below. 

First Geminoid Summit 2011

Credit: Geminoid DK

In March 2011 the first ever summit of three Geminoids was organized at the ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories in Osaka, Japan. 

It was part of a joint-venture between ATR and

Geminoid Lab Denmark, the first Geminoid Lab outside Japan, located at Aalborg University. The lab will be the home of a gemonoid, a human-like robot, modeled over the director of AAU's Center for Computer-mediated Epistemology, Associate Professor, Henrik Scharfe.The purpose of the lab is to systematically investigate certain aspects of Human Robot Interaction. Geminoid|DK is intended to advance android science and philosophy, in seeking answers to fundamental questions, many of which that have also occupied the Japanese researchers. The most important questions are: What is a human? What is presence? What is a relation? What is identity? The researchers intend to pursue these questions while looking at areas such as emotional affordances in HRI, the novel concept of Blended Presence, and by studying cultural differences in the perception of robots.