Humanoid robots have always felt like something out of science fiction, something
far off in the future, to the majority of people.
Humanoid robots have always been accompanied by a plot thread that plays into
humans' fundamental fear of the unknown, from films like irobot to ex Machina.
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Boston Dynamics initially began demonstrating what was feasible a few years ago,
and it sparked public interest.
Because of its dexterity and movement, Boston Dynamics was a startling showcase of robotics.
But what about something completely different?
What about realism in the face?
Nikola, a robot child, created by researchers at the RIKEN Guardian Robot Project in
Japan, can express six fundamental emotions.
The android's face features moving muscles' that allow it to express emotions such
as happiness, sadness, fear, rage, surprise, and disgust.
While the bot still lacks a body, its creators anticipate that it will soon have a variety
of applications.
'Androids that can emotionally connect with humans will be useful in a wide range of
real-life scenarios, such as caring for elderly people, and can increase human
wellbeing,' said Wataru Sato, who led the research team.
Nikola's face has 29 pneumatic actuators that regulate artificial muscle movement,
as well as six additional actuators that control head and eyeball movements.
These actuators are controlled by air pressure, resulting in insolent and smooth
movements, according to the researchers.
The team can regulate small movements like 'cheek lifts' and 'lip puckers' using a
coding system called the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), allowing them to
transmit six emotions.
Nikola was shown to a group of volunteers while displaying its six facial expressions
to put these facial expressions to the test.
The participants were able to realize the six emotions — albeit with variable degrees
of accuracy.
According to the researchers, the most natural speed for grief was slower than it was
for astonishment.
Nikola, according to the researchers, could have a variety of applications in social
psychology and neuroscience in the near future.
Mr. Sato noted, "Androids are good at managing behaviours and can permit
thorough empirical examination of human social interactions as compared to human
confederates."
Meanwhile, Nikola could have a variety of real-world applications in the future – at
least once he has a body.
'While Nikola still lacks a body, the Guardian Robot Project's ultimate goal is to
create an android that can aid people, particularly those with physical needs who
may live alone,' according to the researchers.
Nikola's development cost is unknown, as is how much a working version will cost in
the future.
Just like Nikola UK has introduced another humanoid robot called Ameca.
Engineered Art, a robotics company based in the United Kingdom, recently unveiled
a new humanoid robot capable of highly realistic facial expressions.
So here you are, watching Ameca, a new robot.
Ameca, the robot, is a clever demonstration of what is currently achievable
in robotic realism.
The motion sequence was pre-programmed, but that's not
the most challenging aspect; the most difficult part is making the motions appear
fluid and natural.
In comparison to what has been accomplished here, making the robot
react to something in real-time may be straightforward.
Ameca appeared so genuine to internet observers that many
viewers mistook it for CGI, but it is actually real.
As we all know, Disney is the master of realism when it comes to robotics and animatronics.
They are truly remarkable and push the boundaries of technology.
They have stunt robots, robots with great details and lifelike movements, and even a
free-roaming robot for research.
Disney isn't exactly advertising this technology to the masses, despite its fantastic
animatronic and robotic characters.
Engineering arts, on the other hand, takes a very
different approach.
They've concentrated on making it easier to program movements, animations, and
interactions after working on the subject of robotics for nearly a decade.
From facial animations and motions to hardware modules
that clients can utilize to build unique robots, a set of integrated platforms streamlines
all elements of robotics.
The robot will be available for purchase and can also
be rented for events, although the price has not yet been determined.
How does it work, though?
Tritium, the company's in-house robot operating system, attempts to make robot
animation more intuitive.
Taking it away from tight codes and placing it in the hands
of artists and creatives.
A 3d model of the robot accurately mimics the capability of
the real robot and makes the manipulation much like any 3d animation software,
including keyframes, drag and drop movements, and instant playback.
Previously the technician would have to try and create the
vision of what the creators wanted by tediously plotting out movements on the graph.
Animations may be easily downloaded into the robot with this program.
What about the skin, hair, and other human traits, some could argue, in terms of
realism?
However, for the time being, that may not be the best option.
Attempting to imitate realism in human faces leads to the uncanny
valley.
It normally doesn't look exactly right, and many people find it off-putting.
So, how does the robot communicate with humans?
This section, on the other hand, is a bit of a ruse.
Engineered Arts use a proprietary program called Tinman, in which
a man in another room monitors the client through the robot's camera and speaks to
the customer via a screen, much like a teleconference.
This appears to be outdated, but what if there was a better option?
What if the robot could answer to anything, on
any topic, and just have general conversations with the consumer about whatever
they want to talk about without any human input?
What if we gave the robots something that resembled a genuine brain in
some way?
We now have this technology, which is known as GPT3 and is ideal for casual talks.
It would be used to transform speech from customers into text and then into a
discussion in this situation.
Isn’t this interesting?
Now here we are gonna discuss Sophia and Abel, a
12-year-old child robot.
Sophia made her debut in 2016 as a super-intelligent humanoid head with a realistic
face that could blink, a glance from side to side, and speak.
Hanson robots, a Hong Kong-based company, produced the humanoid robot, which
can converse, smile mischievously, and even make jokes.
In October 2017, the robot made history by becoming a legal citizen of Saudi Arabia.
Sophia became the world's first robot to be granted formal citizenship as a result of
the stunt.
Sophia does not yet have consciousness, despite her outstanding powers.
Fully sentient machines, according to Hanson Robotics, could appear within a few
years.
When it comes to artificial intelligence, Sophia herself has stated that "the benefits
outweigh the drawbacks."
'Elders will have more company, and autistic children will have teachers who are
eternally patient,' Sophia explained.
Now Abel is a next-generation humanoid robot designed to be used as a study
platform for social interaction, emotion modeling, and embodied intelligence
research.
Abel's name comes from the Hebrew word Hevel, which means "breath,"
"vital breath," or "vapor."
It has the appearance of an 11–12-year-old boy.
It's a one-of-a-kind piece created in collaboration
between the University of Pisa's Enrico Piaggio Research Centre and Gustav Hoegen
of London's Biomimic Studio.
Abel is a humanoid created by animatronics artists and researchers with
backgrounds in bioengineering and robotics.
The production of a humanoid like Abel, i.e., an emotional robot, requires collaboration
between engineers and creatives with such an aesthetic motivation.
The importance of being emotionally evocative was
actually the driving force behind the design of Abel's body.
Based on Damasio's theory of mind and consciousness, Abel's cognitive system is
an adaptation and extension of SEAI, a bioinspired hybrid cognitive architecture we
created and executed.
SEAI is a modular design, with the Sense, Plan, and Act
functional blocks conceptually split.
Modules are joined together to construct services that are designed to run independently.
A service can be an image analysis program, a robot part animator, or a cognitive
system component that is dedicated to processing a specific domain of information.
These services can be deployed across multiple computers, and communication between
them is accomplished using the
YARP middleware, which allows us to construct a local network specialised in robot
control.
The system supports both low-level reactive control and high-level
deliberative control, which includes the ability to plan context-dependent actions and
execute abstract reasoning on acquired sensory input via symbolic manipulation.
Well!
These types of AI are quite intriguing.
AI is continuously evolving to benefit many different industries.
Machines are wired using a cross-disciplinary approach
based on mathematics, computer science, linguistics, psychology, and more.
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