I, a dummy programmer, rely heavily on online materials to learn programming.
Recently I watched videos about GATEBOX (they didn't pay me to write about it), and I
plan to DIY my own Virtual Girlfriend. Are Entertainment Robots a kind of "Game"? I think they are? It's just they have a hardware basis?

My current skillset is that I have never touched any hardware before. Single-chip
microcomputer, raspberry pi, etc, never laid my hands on any of those. I am a dummy programmer, and I know little about 3D modeling.

In my imagination as a dummy programmer, a Vitual Girlfriend will consist of the following parts:

1.Physical existance. Just use hologram.

2.Design of the look. 3D modeling.

3.Her Soul. Should be able to perform the easiest voice-interation. I say hello to her and she should be able to say hello back. Thus, sound input and output would be involved here. In terms of speech recognition, there are simple solutions and extremly complicated solutions that's close to mission impossible for me.

OK, well, so now I know nothing. Starting from step one, I did none of these things before. I plan to record the whole process of me learning, making mistakes, making progress and how to put things together (maybe I will make videos of it), step by step, so other people can just follow me if they want, and make their own robot, until I stuck somewhere and cannot move on.

Virtual Girlfriend 101-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Step one, based on my research, there are many different hologram solutions out there.

If you are in USA, you can open Amazon to search "hologram"/"3d hologram"/"phone hologram", etc, and you will find some products available. Actually it is just a piece of plastic so if you are good at DIY, maybe you can just make one yourself.

I ordered one on 9/19/2018. I don't know whether it is good. Don't know how to use it either. As a prime member, I will got my order on 9/21/2018. So could I continue to do Virtual Girlfriend 102? I would find out on Friday and report back.

Before I got my order, I will research more about everything and learn what I can learn now. At least I just learned what is ARDUINO.

I'd love my very own Cyber-elf from Megaman Zero or something to help me remember stuff like the MOT is due or the bins need to go out.  True, there is Alexia for that I guess but its just a damn wireless speaker with Sister Superior's voice...

You could even have Hal 9000 as your flat mate!

"Hal...unlock the front door Hal!"

"I'm sorry Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that..."

Ah dear. But seriously, yeah, games are an experience meant to challenge you, whereas something like this or Alexia are meant to be daily assistants.  The thing to remember about games, though is that they do tend to tread a fine line between challenge and experience.  Not everyone plays a game to "win" but to simply be part of an alternative world - bit like the Holodeck from Star Trek; The Next Generation.  I recall many years ago that some one kept a diary of the time they spent playing Myst which might have been for that very reason.

When I was growing up I became so engrossed in LucasArt's X-Wing and Tie-Fighter games.  In the real world Star Wars is just fantasy, and I will never get to really fly around the Star Wars galaxy in an X-Wing or safe guard Imperial Citizens in a Tie-Fighter.  Don't get me wrong, we should never run away from the real world BUT I do believe that we should be able to have some time out from reality.  By day I was a nervous wreck wishing it would all end, but by night I was a calm and professional pilot in a squadron.  As silly as it sounds, that fantasy indulgence bought balance to my life, enough so that I wouldn't give up so easily during the day.  I eventually said goodbye to school( hated those years ) and found my true calling in life which was art and programming.

I think the Virtual Partner thing might be doing more harm than good if not kept in check( they are not a substitute for real people ), but so long as we understand that its just software that is assisting us in our daily life...we shouldn't go wrong. 

This seems like an interesting project, and maybe ideal for the Raspberry Pi. There is certainly plenty of community support.