Sophia, the world’s first Robot citizen
Sophia is a social robot people are starting to talk about these days because she became the world’s first robot citizen. She is the latest and the most advanced robot from Hanson Robotics. One of her interviews generated many social reactions and had billions of views. The robot demonstrated her abilities in the business world when she met some of the key decision makers across different industries such as insurance, banking, property development, auto manufacturing and even media and entertainment.
The company developed Sophia as a part of their mission to create machines that live and love, which then could work with humans to build a better future by using technology. David Hanson, the man behind Sophia, introduced her to the public as an example of his efforts to create robots that are able to learn creativity, compassion, and empathy. According to David Hanson, those are the main traits that must be combined so that machines can solve and fix problems that are to complex for people.
Why does a robot need facial expressions?
Since now, we saw many examples of robots developed with artificial intelligence technology, but none of them had human expressions. David Hanson talked about the need for facial expressions in an interview. He said that the company patented a unique skin made of rubber so that Sophia can have more than 60 different appearances. Robots need to be beautiful so that the communication with humans will be more intuitive. Dr. Hanson formed this point of view from Disney, where he was an Imagineer, which helped him believe that the human-like face is an essential part of the future of robotics.
What to know about Sophia
- She is able to simulate a full range of facial expressions;
- She can understand speech;
- She can hold natural conversations;
- She can see and respond to facial expressions;
- She can learn and adapt from interactions;
- She is a friendly machine that loves and cares about humans.
What do you think about Sophia, the first robot citizen? You can comment in the section below.
