The unnervingly life-like androids coming to a future very near you

Chillingly life-like robots are causing a storm in Japan – where their creators are about to launch them as actresses, full-size mechanical copies for pop idol fans, and clones of the dearly departed. There is even talk that the naturalistic, even engaging, she-droids may be taken up as men as partners in the not-too-distant future. Android Asuna was a star attraction at Tokyo Designers' Week showcase earlier this month and she is one of a series of geminoids, as their inventor dubs them, that are ripe for commercialisation say their creator robotics professor Hiroshi Ishiguro. Eerie: Android engineers have recently been able to overcome the'Uncanny Valley syndrome', where androids elicit a response of revulsion because they look almost, but not quite, human Gobsmacked men attending the show told MailOnline that she was well made, very convincing and had a nice voice. One man joked that Asuna would make'a good date; a cheap date!' From others, covering their mouths in astonishment at Asuna's realistic skin and facial expressions, the frequent response from the public was'sukoi' which translates as'amazing' in English.