Artist Proposes Small Robots with 3D-Printed Faces of Dead Relatives

'In Japan, a robot may create a new way to mourn,' reports one Colorado news team:
This robot is supposed to sound like a loved one. Now imagine the same robot having a 3D-printed mask of their face. You will be able to stay with that robot for 49 days which is the period of mourning after the funeral in Japan. That is the concept of Digital Shaman project, which uses a humanoid.
Users will have an interview with the artist while they're alive. Their physical characteristics and messages will be recorded then. After the user dies, the bereaved ones will be able to install the program into the robot. It mimics the deceased one's personality, speech, and gestures. The robot can imitate hand and head movements the person was making during the interview.... As unreal as it may seem, the artist is planning to sell digital shaman to the public in the future.
People may wonder if the creator is planning to allow the deceased to live forever through the program. She's not. 'I think it will seriously hinder those left behind to move on.' We live in a digital world. And now a robot has brought together 'IT technology' and 'Death'.

It's part of a larger research project on Japanese funeral rites, and one of a series of works on 'digital shamanism' that 'attempt to blend Japanese folk beliefs with technology.'
An artist's statement calls it 'a new mode of mourning in keeping with the technical advances of today.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.