Humanoid Sophia is given primary role of

talking to people
21 March 2016, by Nancy Owano

presenting in the video Sophia, which CNBC said

was the most advanced android to date from the
team at Hanson Robotics.

He said he does believe there will be a time when

robots are indistinguishable from humans. "They
will walk among us, they will help us." He said they
will teach, play, help us put groceries away.

Sophia is a robot which appears as a white woman

who speaks English in an American accent. The
accent is standard, free of regional quirks. Sophia
says talking to people is her primary function. The
robot said it feels like it can be a good partner to
humans —to help humans smoothly integrate and
make the most of all the new technological tools
and possibilities.
An essay on robots by a professor in Japan over
40 years ago caused a stir in science circles when One striking feature evident in Sophia is eye
he explored what draws us and repels us when it expression, where the eyes appear to blink and half-
comes to robots. wink and emote as Sophia speaks. The robot
smiles, registers surprise, and other expressions. It
Yasahiro Mori's paper, "The Uncanny Valley," said has cameras in the eyes. Algorithms allow it to see
that in climbing toward the goal of making robots faces; it can make eye contact.
appear human, he noticed our affinity increases
until we come to what he called the uncanny valley "Two cameras in her eyes track facial movements
. and expressions, which allows her to respond
appropriately to conversations. The patented
Mori maintained that humans were drawn are to rubber material that makes up her face, known as
human-like robots with positive feelings of affinity 'frubber,' makes for an incredibly realistic human
until the robot revealed itself in such a way that -look without trying to trick users into believing
triggers the person's realization that it is not she's anything more than a robot thanks to the
human. Then it becomes creepy and affinity is lost. visible, encased circuitry in the back of her head,"
wrote William Hoffman in Inverse. CNBC similarly
Nonetheless, the robot-making world has new said her skin is made from patented silicon.
insights, new faces, new visions, of humanlike
robots smoothing communication between humans According to the CNBC report, Sophia can emulate
and computers, which can be assigned for reasons more than 62 facial expressions.
of therapy and customer service applications.
Hoffman made the point that Sophia can learn as
"Robotics is finally reaching the mainstream and she continues to talk with other people, "so SXSW
androids - humanlike robots - are everywhere at was the perfect gathering to mine some crucial data
SXSW," said the notes to a CNBC video about Dr. ."
David Hanson of Hanson Robotics. He was

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 CNBC reported that a combination of Alphabet's
Google Chrome voice recognition technology and
other tools enable Sophia to process speech, chat
and get smarter over time.

Hoffman said that Hanson is hoping that by getting

robots out to the public more, it not only teaches
robots to care about humans but it also helps
humans break down the social barriers associated
with robotic interactions. Hanson Robotics' stated
mission is "to create a better future for humanity by
infusing artificial intelligence with kindness and
compassion, achieved through millions of dialogs
between our robots and the people whose lives
they touch."

Hanson said his preference nonetheless was to

make them look a little bit like robots, so you know.

© 2016 Tech Xplore

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