While studying at the London College of Communications, photographer Luisa Whitton was commissioned to shoot her dream project: inside the robotics lab of Japanese scientist Hiroshi Ishiguro.
Ishiguro is the director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory in Osaka, Japan, and one of the world's leading roboticists. For nearly a decade, Ishiguro has dedicated his life to creating the most lifelike android possible.
Once at the lab, Whitton was struck by the casualness of Ishiguro's mission: to create a robot that could replace himself. While working tirelessly to create his robot, Ishiguro has been faced with the philosophical question of what it means to be human.
"It's a question of where the soul is. Japanese people have always been told that a soul can exist in anything and everything. We don't make much distinction between humans and robots," Ishiguro told Whitton.
Whitton shared some photos with us here, but you can check out the rest at her website. Whitton is currently raising money on Kickstarter to continue the project.