Meet Shiri, the Freakishly Realistic Robotic Buttocks
In the future, when our kids’ kids are studying the origins of cybernetic humans, they will learn that one of the first pieces of the anatomy to be invented was the butt. And they will learn that the first robot butt was named Shiri, and its creators wanted it to be happy.
Inventors at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo are responsible for this bulbous, quivering achievement. As strange as it sounds, Shiri (the “buttocks humanoid robot”) may actually represent a big step forward in replicating physical human sensation (or, in the words of the inventor, it “expresses various emotions with organic movements of the artificial muscles”). According to the University, the project is meant to “advance the innovative use of robotic technology and its purpose,” and “to raise the argument as to what perceptions will be manifested in the minds of people who communicate with Shiri.”