With the ever growing popularity of Anime, especially after the launch of the 24 hour anime television channel in this country in late 2007, it will be a rather sober thought for an anime fan to lay eyes on a character from their favorite show dressed in the latest Jean Paul Gaultier or Gucci collection, especially when one considers that anime distances itself from “soap opera story lines” that plague our television screens. In essence though it is this thought that will haunt the minds of anime fans when they see latest “human-like” robot that Japanese researchers have developed.

Dubbed the HRP-4C, this creation from AIST research laboratory has the face of a manga inspired female aged somewhere between 19 and 29 and the traditional silver body of a Star Wars inspired robot. Measuring 158cm in height and weighing in at just 43kg, including the batteries, this bluetooth controlled female posed and smiled at the cameras as she was unveiled in Tsukuba, Japan today. True to life the HRP-4C suffered a bit of nervousness as she mixed up her facial expressions, a flaw the creators put down to the “paparazzi” at the event snapping her photos, which confused her sound recognition sensors.

Developed for the entertainment industry, this preview was the prelude to her appearance at the Tokyo fashion show early next week.

Tags: AIST, Anime, HRP-4C, Robot