Android

An Android is a robot or synthetic organism designed to look and act like a human, especially one with a body having a flesh-like resemblance.[2] Until recently, androids have largely remained within the domain of science fiction, frequently seen in film and television. However, advancements in robot technology have allowed the design of functional and realistic humanoid robots.[citation needed]

Etymology
The word was coined from the Greek root ἀνδρ- ‘man’ and the suffix -oid ‘having the form or likeness of’.[5]
The term “droid”, coined by George Lucas for the original Star Wars film and now used widely within science fiction, originated as an abridgment of “android”, but has been used by Lucas and others to mean any robot, including distinctly non-human form machines like R2-D2. The word “android” was used in Star Trek: The Original Series episode What Are Little Girls Made Of? The abbreviation “andy”, coined as a pejorative by writer Philip K. Dick in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, has seen some further usage, such as within the TV series Total Recall 2070.[6]
The Oxford English Dictionary traces the earliest use (as “Androides”) to Ephraim Chambers’ Cyclopaedia, in reference to an automaton that St. Albertus Magnus allegedly created.[3][7] The term “android” appears in US patents as early as 1863 in reference to miniature human-like toy automatons.[8] The term android was used in a more modern sense by the French author Auguste Villiers de l’Isle-Adam in his work Tomorrow’s Eve (1886).[3] This story features an artificial humanlike robot named Hadaly. As said by the officer in the story, “In this age of Realien advancement, who knows what goes on in the mind of those responsible for these mechanical dolls.” The term made an impact into English pulp science fiction starting from Jack Williamson’s The Cometeers (1936) and the distinction between mechanical robots and fleshy androids was popularized by Edmond Hamilton’s Captain Future (1940–1944).[3]
Although Karel Čapek’s robots in R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) (1921) – the play that introduced the word robot to the world – were organic artificial humans, the word “robot” has come to primarily refer to mechanical humans, animals, and other beings.[3] The term “android” can mean either one of these,[3] while a cyborg (“cybernetic organism” or “bionic man”) would be a creature that is a combination of organic and mechanical parts.



Authors have used the term android in more diverse ways than robot or cyborg. In some fictional works, the difference between a robot and android is only their appearance, with androids being made to look like humans on the outside but with robot-like internal mechanics.[3] In other stories, authors have used the word “android” to mean a wholly organic, yet artificial, creation.[3] Other fictional depictions of androids fall somewhere in between.[3]
Eric G. Wilson, who defines androids as a “synthetic human being”, distinguishes between three types of androids, based on their body’s composition:
the mummy type – where androids are made of “dead things” or “stiff, inanimate, natural material”, such as mummies, puppets, dolls and statues
the golem type – androids made from flexible, possibly organic material, including golems and homunculi
the automaton type – androids which are a mix of dead and living parts, including automatons and robots[4]
Although human morphology is not necessarily the ideal form for working robots, the fascination in developing robots that can mimic it can be found historically in the assimilation of two concepts: simulacra (devices that exhibit likeness) and automata (devices that have independence).
Projects
Japan
DER 01, a Japanese actroid
The Intelligent Robotics Lab, directed by Hiroshi Ishiguro at Osaka University, and Kokoro Co., Ltd. have demonstrated the Actroid at Expo 2005 in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. In 2006, Kokoro Co. developed a new DER 2 android. The height of the human body part of DER2 is 165 cm. There are 47 mobile points. DER2 can not only change its expression but also move its hands and feet and twist its body. The “air servosystem” which Kokoro Co. developed originally is used for the actuator. As a result of having an actuator controlled precisely with air pressure via a servosystem, the movement is very fluid and there is very little noise. DER2 realized a slimmer body than that of the former version by using a smaller cylinder. Outwardly DER2 has a more beautiful proportion. Compared to the previous model, DER2 has thinner arms and a wider repertoire of expressions. Once programmed, it is able to choreograph its motions and gestures with its voice.
The Intelligent Mechatronics Lab, directed by Hiroshi Kobayashi at the Tokyo University of Science, has developed an android head called Saya, which was exhibited at Robodex 2002 in Yokohama, Japan. There are several other initiatives around the world involving humanoid research and development at this time, which will hopefully introduce a broader spectrum of realized technology in the near future. Now Saya is working at the Science University of Tokyo as a guide.
The Waseda University (Japan) and NTT Docomo’s manufacturers have succeeded in creating a shape-shifting robot WD-2. It is capable of changing its face. At first, the creators decided the positions of the necessary points to express the outline, eyes, nose, and so on of a certain person. The robot expresses its face by moving all points to the decided positions, they say. The first version of the robot was first developed back in 2003. After that, a year later, they made a couple of major improvements to the design. The robot features an elastic mask made from the average head dummy. It uses a driving system with a 3DOF unit. The WD-2 robot can change its facial features by activating specific facial points on a mask, with each point possessing three degrees of freedom. This one has 17 facial points, for a total of 56 degrees of freedom. As for the materials they used, the WD-2′s mask is fabricated with a highly elastic material called Septom, with bits of steel wool mixed in for added strength. Other technical features reveal a shaft driven behind the mask at the desired facial point, driven by a DC motor with a simple pulley and a slide screw. Apparently, the researchers can also modify the shape of the mask based on actual human faces. To “copy” a face, they need only a 3D scanner to determine the locations of an individual’s 17 facial points. After that, they are then driven into position using a laptop and 56 motor control boards. In addition, the researchers also mention that the shifting robot can even display an individual’s hair style and skin color if a photo of their face is projected onto the 3D Mask.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28robot%29