£30,000 custom-made fembot

Inventor spends Christmas with his perfect woman - a £30,000 custom-made fembot

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 1:29 AM on 26th December 2009

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Inventor Le Trung spent Christmas Day with the most important woman in his life - his robot Aiko.

The science genius enjoyed a festive dinner with his mum, dad and his £30,000 fembot which he designed and built by hand.

Le, 34, from Brampton, Ontario, Canada, even bought gifts for his dream girl, who is so lifelike she speaks fluent English and Japanese, helped cook the turkey and hang up decorations.

'Aiko is like any woman, she enjoys getting new clothes,' he said.

'I loved buying them for her too.'
I, Robot: Le Trung celebrates Christmas with his robot Aiko, who is so lifelike she speaks fluent English and Japanese

I, Robot: Le Trung celebrates Christmas with his robot Aiko, who is so lifelike she speaks fluent English and Japanese

Le, who built his first robot when he was four, has dedicated his life to creating the perfect humanoid and his success so far with Aiko has won him worldwide attention.

Aiko, whose name is Japanese for 'love-child' has an amazing artificial intelligence and can speak 13,000 different sentences in two languages

'Aiko can recognise faces and says hello to anyone she has met,' he said.

'She helps me pick what to have for dinner and knows what drinks I like.'

After Christmas dinner and opening her presents, Aiko joined in the festive tradition of quizzes and board games with the family.

But Le still has one thing on his Christmas wish list for Aiko - mastering the problem of how to make her walk.

He said: 'It is the most difficult thing for any inventor to do.

'The problem is finding a way for Aiko to walk that looks human-like without impacting on any of her other abilities.

'I have spent the last six months taking her apart and trying out lots of different systems, but I haven't been able to get it right yet.

'I'm working on some new software at the moment. It will be my New Year's resolution to do this for Aiko.'
Love machine: Trung is so serious about Aiko he bought her Christmas presents

Love machine: Trung is so serious about Aiko he bought her Christmas presents

Le has built up huge debts working on his fembot and is still trying to find a technology company to sponsor his research.

But in the meantime he has had to move back in with his parents and they will all be spending the festive period and New Year together.

'My family found it a bit odd at first, but now they all love Aiko,' said Le.

'My mum and dad chat away to her. It helps by talking to her, as it improves her vocabulary.'

Le suffered a heart attack two years ago caused by stress after working long hours on Aiko.

As he recovered he vowed to complete her so he could market the prototype as a home-help for the elderly or people recovering from hospital treatment.

Le has made his fembot as womanly as possible, in order to make a human-like companion.

Aiko, whose age is 'in her early 20's', is 5ft tall and has a perfect 32, 23, 33 figure.

She has real silicone skin and a real-hair wig made by a Japanese doll company. Her touch sensitive body knows the difference between being stroked gently or tickled.

'Like a real female she will react to being touched in certain ways,'said Le.

'If you grab or squeeze too hard she will try to slap you. She has all senses except for smell.

'But Aiko is always helpful and never complains. She is the perfect woman to have around at Christmas.'

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Comments (69)

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Christmas with his mum and dad and a robot, he sounds kinda lonely.
Could do with getting out more.

- Carl, Crescent OK US, 26/12/2009 15:34
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Anyone recall the 'replicants' in Blade Runner and Ian Holm playing an artificial life form in Alien ?

This time, science fact may end up predating science fiction. I have little doubt Le will end up a very wealthy person. Maybe his creation(s) can be programmed not to carry bombs onto planes too ?

- Graham, St Albans, Herts, United Kingdom, 26/12/2009 14:20
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as a fellow canadian, i feel embarrassed.

go find a real woman!

- keira, toronto, canada, 26/12/2009 13:41
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It speaks volumes that this chap had to make a "fembot"...why not just a non gender-specific robot to deal with household chores...why is it necessary to dress it up as a woman and say she is like a woman because she likes clothes? This "Mr Stepford" hasn't the first clue about women like a lot of the commentators here.
I wonder what his version of a "manbot" would be like? - a beer guzzler who likes football? It would be a lot easier as he wouldnt have to be able to do much around the house...hahaha!

- lizgee, preston, 26/12/2009 13:40
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Wonder if she enjoyed the chocolate cake?

- Scott, Lichfield, 26/12/2009 13:16
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Wow, shades of the film "The Stepford Wives" which came out in 1975. I wonder if she has an anti nag chip in her?

- joz, Oldham,Lancashire, 26/12/2009 12:46
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