A Lonely Geminoid-F Waits For You in a Tokyo Department Store

Across the Uncanny Valley of the Pacific Ocean, at Tokyo's Takashimaya department store by Valentine's Day, you can greet Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro's Geminoid-F android, who's engaged in a curious bit of street theater.

While waiting for a friend who will never show up, the female robot cycles through 65 separate emotions. She also refuses to suffer fools during her solitary vigil. Explains Professor Ishiguro:

Think of the android as an ordinary person. Treat it as if it's a person sitting there in the usual way. If you react as you normally would to a sitting person, the android will react. But if you pester it too much, it'll ignore you. I think it would be fun to imagine what the android might be feeling while you're watching it.

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