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Japanese robotics couple married by android

By James Dacey

We all know colleagues who allow their work to stray a little bit too far into their personal lives.

But a pair of robotics researchers in Japan surely took this to whole new levels when they were married yesterday by a 1.5 m android named I-Fairy.

The bride was 36-year-old Satoko Inoue who works for Kokuro, the firm that produced I-Fairy, one of their new generation of androids.

“This was a lot of fun. I think that the Japanese have a strong sense that robots are our friends,” she told the Associated Press.

Her new husband is Tomohiro Shibata, a 42-year-old professor of robotics at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, was a bit more critical of their plastic priest. “It would be nice if the robot was a bit more clever, but she is very good at expressing herself,” he said.

The service took place at a rooftop restaurant in central Tokyo and you can enjoy the happy couple exchanging vows in this short YouTube clip.

Posted by James Dacey on May 17, 2010 3:42 PM | Permalink