Robot News Presenter Causes a Stir On Russian TV (bbc.com) 66
Russia state news channel Rossiya 24 has introduced a robot presenter for some of its bulletins. The BBC reports that the robot, named Alex, "has already caused a stir, with some viewers complaining about his appearance and accusing him of peddling political propaganda." From the report: The robot was developed by Promobot in the city of Perm. His silicon head is modeled on the face of the company's co-founder Alexei Yuzhakov. At the moment, the robot anchor can only move his facial features and neck. However, the final robot will have fully mobile limbs as well. Production of the robot began in 2017 and should be fully complete later this year, according to Promobot. It said Alex had cost more than one million roubles ($15,600) to develop and that it had received orders for 12 more humanoids.
Rossiya 24 said its newest presenter was of Russian origin with "software and almost all of its components produced inside the country." Alex has delivered a number of bulletins for the channel, presenting news items about agriculture, a nuclear technology forum and micro-finance. Most observers think on-air Alex is a temporary stunt to inject some fun and promote innovative Russian technology in TV news.
Rossiya 24 said its newest presenter was of Russian origin with "software and almost all of its components produced inside the country." Alex has delivered a number of bulletins for the channel, presenting news items about agriculture, a nuclear technology forum and micro-finance. Most observers think on-air Alex is a temporary stunt to inject some fun and promote innovative Russian technology in TV news.
Amazing.. (Score:5, Funny)
that they were able to see the difference after watching Tass and RT for years (following Pravda).
"viewers complaining about his appearance and accusing him of peddling political propaganda."
Those of us that know better get our news here:
https://www.theonion.com/ [theonion.com] America's Finest News Source.
Re: (Score:3)
You do know about time zones, right?
Probably fake (Score:3)
Russia has used fake robots before [popularmechanics.com]... More likely than not, this one is a fake too.
Re:Probably fake (Score:5, Informative)
Promobot is notorious for this. They staged the fake "Self-Driving-Car-Hit-Our-Robot" stunt a few months ago, and before that, the fake "Our Robot Keeps Escaping Our Lab" stunt. If you see the word "Promobot" in a headline, you should just automatically assume there's something fishy about the story.
Re: (Score:2)
Render (Score:2, Insightful)
If the robot is only used as a presenter in front of a camera, why not simply 3D render it instead ?
Re: (Score:1)
High technology silicon is packaged in Asia. With the 'highest tech' silicon, the boats of wafers are shipped there for packaging.
Packaging is the drudge work.
Re: (Score:3)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re:Render (Score:5, Funny)
They should have named it 'Max Headroom' as well.
The circle will not be complete until (Score:3)
the robot delivers the daily terror threat, like they do on the US brainwashing news stations.
Extra points if the robot reports on robot terror threats.
Re:The circle will not be complete until (Score:4, Informative)
Those who are ignorant of the past are indeed doomed to repeat it (poorly).
Putin sealed his grip on power in large part by pointing at the Chechen Islamic terrorists the Russian state largely created by suppressing the limited autonomy Chechnya had previously. Once the Russians massacred enough Chechens to dissipate that threat Putin moved onto the the Georgians, The Ukraine and the threat from Europe/the West in general and Nato in particular.
You get zero points for thinly veiled whataboutism.
Re: (Score:2)
Trouble is that more often than not he's simply replaced by another dictator who grabbed power by pretending to be the man of the people then once he has it simply continues the same psychopathic policies as his predecessor. See Zimbabwe for a good example.
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Ah, but previous dictators didn't have the informational resources of the Russian State. Putin isn't going anywhere, no one over there has the balls to put him out of the world's misery. And he won't feel bad about stacking the bodies quite high to prove that point. China is showing how it can be done, even putting an entire ethnic group into a gulag. Both regimes merely whack the oddball that sticks out a bit too far, and they aren't shy about whacking an entire people when they become a problem.
Ask the Ti
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Elections were derailed? In which country?
Re: (Score:2)
Laura Ingraham will be replaced by a wax museum's animated Eva Braun.
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I prefer to think of Ingraham as the character Cloris Leachman played in Mel Brooks "High Anxiety". I could see her keeping Sean Hannity trussed up in a closet..."Too much strictness!!"
An upgrade (Score:1)
People trust bots less. (Score:5, Insightful)
This robot is being fed the same propaganda as the meatsack it replaced, but people only now notice that their news is full of propaganda.
Perfect for Fox! (Score:3)
People who watch Fox are predisposed to believing whatever they are told (as long as they see it on Fox or it comes out of a preacher's mouth). What difference does it make if it's a robot telling them the sky is green and the earth is cooling? Think of the money Fox will save on salaries for the talking heads! A few bots that are blonde, blue-eyed, with long legs, and big boobs will replace everyone on camera. They can get some AS (artificial stoopid) to write the text that the robots read or just read Trump (natural stoopid) tweets all day.
Wonderful! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
As a robot, it's sexuality was most certainly binary.
Thats a pretty good likeness.... (Score:2)
.... of your average Russian male the morning after another night on the potato vodka.
Could be useful (Score:1)
If a robotic news reporter says something that angers the Russian government, exactly who does Putin send to the gulag?
Link to video (Score:2)
Here is a YT video of the robot and the company: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=... [youtube.com]