Erica, a lifelike android designed to look like a 23-year-old woman, may soon become a TV news anchor in Japan, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to Hiroshi Ishiguro, director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University and Erica's creator, the android will replace a human news anchor on the airwaves as soon as April. Erica the android may be well suited for this desk job. For starters, she can capably recite scripted writing and sit in a chair, making her about as qualified for television as most humans. (According to Ishiguro, the android was originally designed to be a receptionist.)

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• Country: Japan 
• Company: Osaka University, Kyoto University