Photo: Mikhail (Vokabre) Shcherbakov from Moscow, Russia / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Okay, this guy built a robot that looks exactly like himself and then started sending it to give lectures in his place, and honestly I respect the audacity. Hiroshi Ishiguro is the Osaka University roboticist behind the Geminoid androids, and the first time I saw his work I genuinely couldn't tell which one was the real Hiroshi and which was the silicone copy with the famously stern face and all-black wardrobe. But the deeper trick is what gets me: he makes these eerily human machines not to creep us out but to ask the sneaky question "what actually makes us human?" from the other direction. There's something quietly thrilling about a man from a lakeside town in Shiga calmly walking us up to the edge of the future, never blinking. Less uncanny valley, more uncanny dare.
Overview
Hiroshi Ishiguro (born October 23, 1963, in Takashima, Shiga Prefecture, Japan) is a roboticist and university professor at Osaka University. He is internationally known for his research into humanoid androids, including robots modeled closely on his own likeness, using them to explore fundamental questions about human perception and identity. His laboratory's work sits at the intersection of robotics, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Hiroshi Ishiguro
- Name (Japanese)
- 石黒浩
- Reading
- いしぐろ ひろし
- Born
- October 23, 1963 (age 62)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Libra / Rabbit (卯)
- Origin
- Takashima, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
- Occupation
- Scientist / Roboticist / University Professor / Mechanical Engineer
2. Background
- University
- Osaka University
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
- Official sitehttps://eng.irl.sys.es.osaka-u.ac.jp
- Xhttps://x.com/hiroshiishiguro
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%9F%B3%E9%BB%92%E6%B5%A9
Frequently asked questions
When was Hiroshi Ishiguro born?
Born October 23, 1963 (age 62).
Where is Hiroshi Ishiguro from?
Hiroshi Ishiguro is from Takashima, Shiga Prefecture, Japan.
What does Hiroshi Ishiguro do?
Hiroshi Ishiguro works as Scientist, Roboticist, University Professor, Mechanical Engineer.
Scientist — see all → · More people from Japan →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.