Talking to Robots in VR: Illya Szilak Dev Blog Week 1 (Atomic Vacation)

[DrSzilak]

Also, continuing to learn conversational Japanese--so I can interview and film Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro's androids when I go to Japan in the fall. One of the guiding muses for Atomic Vacation is a little robot girl I saw on Youtube. I finally contacted Dr. Ishiguro who made her, and after a couple of mind-blowing Skype conversations about language, poetry and what it means to be human, he has invited me to come to his lab in Osaka to talk to the robots. My plan is to talk about love, art, poetry and what it means to be human in my broken Japanese with these robots and film it in 360 video. I think it will be a beautiful Easter Egg addition to the Atomic Vacation story --one which poses the question, how does language make us "human."  Talking to robots--dream come true. 

[aleemhossain]

I love that we live in a world where the answer to the question "Why are you learning Japanese?" is "So I can interview an android."

[rkoman]

Are you planning on going with that look for your character?  How will you tackle issues of the uncanny valley and an ability to connect with the character on an emotional level?

[DrSzilak]

Thanks for that Robin--actually, the film  is more of an Easter Egg that players can open. It will be near the end of the game. Shizuku herself will not appear except as an audio narrator or perhaps as an anime type character in the landscape. I really am interested in harnessing the users own fears and expectations about AI. For me, the writing is really what builds emotional connection. I am a writer. I seduce through words. 🙂