Robotic buttocks can tense, twitch and respond to touch

Robotic buttocks can tense, twitch and respond to touch Img/2012/5/15/robot-inner.jpgLondon: A Japanese scientist has come up with a realistic pair of robotic buttocks, which exhibits some of the most realistic demonstrations of human emotions yet - all portrayed through the clenching or relaxing of a backside cheek.There are some various uses for this disembodied technology, like training massage therapists and proctologists without putting humans through any discomfort.

However inventor Nobuhiro Takahashim from the University of Electro-Communications in Japan is more interested in the artistic and emotional side to his derriere, dubbed Shiri, which ‘represents emotions with visual and tactual transformation of the muscles’.

He asserted that his aim is to ‘approach the creation of sensitive and subtle expression by a humanoid robot using organic constructs’.

The ‘robo-bot’, or ‘ro-butt’ contains a skin of silicone over a foam structure, under which lies ‘a gluteus maximum actuator’, or artificial muscles that be inflated or deflated to simulate different ‘moods’, a newspaper reported.
Also tucked away inside is an internal microphone, which detects when the cheeks are being touched, rubbed or slapped and reacts accordingly.

Some of the moves it comprises include twitching, clenching or protruding, and the results in the video are certainly realistic.