- [Narrator] From "Ex Machina" to "iRobot",
the greatest science fiction stories about robots
always ask a single question.
What makes us human?
And can our mechanical creations ever be our equal?
It's a daunting, philosophical question
that we thought we had decades to ponder.
Instead, the future has arrived.
Increasingly we are wowed and astounded by robotic displays
of lifelike movement and intelligence.
Boston Dynamics Atlas receives millions of views
as it backflips and runs its way
through an assault course.
Yet the world's most realistic humanoid robot
can't even walk.
Rather the glint in its eyes,
the all-too-real facial expressions and even a small bout
of annoyance had Elon Musk respond with "Yikes," on Twitter.
Let me introduce Amica.
In this video we'll peer behind the lifelike gray exterior
to uncover the robotic mind wearing beneath.
We'll explore what makes Amica tick
and what future advancements we can expect.
Amica first shot to fame in late 2021
when a video of the robot seemingly waking up,
racked up over 10 million views online.
In the short 40-second clip,
Amica glances and its hand and towards the camera.
What mesmerized people was the humanity present
in Amica's face it's remarkably expressive,
surprise, joy anger, sadness, such emotions
seem to wash across Amicus facial expressions
as it interacted with the team.
Indeed its sociability was tested
at the Consumer Electric Show 2022.
When the world saw the first public demonstration
of this remarkable machine, made by British company
Engineered Arts, the android became the star of the show.
Little wonder as the company rightfully said
Amica is the world's most advanced human shaped robot
representing the forefront of human robotics technology.
Almost every part of Amica's design
has human interaction in mind.
The reason for making a robot that looks like a person
is to interact with people.
The human face is a very high bandwidth communication tool
and that's why we built these expressive robots,
explained Engineered Arts founder Will Jackson
even Amica's gray skin color
aims to keep the robot, gender and face neutral.
With a body of all metal and plastic,
this android is firmly on the non-human side
of the Uncanny Valley
where people feel unease or averse to human like androids
that are realistic, but a little off.
And yet it's Amica's surprisingly vivid
and emotional facial features that create the fascination.
It can smile, be thoughtful, look gobsmacked, or even yawn.
Peel away the surface,
and you'll find 17 individual motors controlling
the movements and expressions.
So far so easy.
It's how these motors work in concert however.
That spooks even the Engineered Arts team
in one interaction, the team test Amica's facial movements
by asking it to follow a finger.
As the finger gets too close,
Amica appears visibly annoyed flinching
when it touches its nose and even going to grab the hand.
It seemed Amica didn't like
its personal space being breached.
It's a simple yet very human interaction.
Obviously there's more to Amica than just motors and gears.
Unique robots need unique software.
Developed in-house, Tridium is responsible
for keeping the robot moving in a realistic manner.
Part of the genius behind the software is its flexibility.
The tri in Tridium refers
to a melding of software, hardware and the cloud.
It means you can adjust the robot's behavior
from anywhere in the world.
Even as the robot entertains an audience, you can alter
maintain, or update Amica's underlying code.
When we say it appears humanlike,
we forget what's going on in our brains.
Even batting away a finger
involves spotting the finger, making a decision,
and moving an arm to push it away in real time.
That's where Tridium comes in.
It sifts the data from sensors, encodes, motors, network
traffic code, video streams, microphone, inputs
and physical conditions to keep the android responsive
under all kinds of conditions.
It's a monumental working of coding.
The system even allows robots to do two things
simultaneously, reducing unpredictable behavior
and keeping the robots performing
in a reliable and expected way.
You don't need to be a coding master to use the system
either, though you can use any coding language.
In fact operators can be trained
on the system in an hour or so.
Nevertheless, while Amica is remarkable,
it's not the end of the road.
Amica cannot walk currently,
unlike other robots, such as Atlas from Boston Dynamics.
But research is underway to help Amica take its first steps.
It'll be one small step for Amica and one giant
leap for robot kind, but it'll also be a gradual.
Evolution of a robot more than 15 years in the making
because of the rapid advancements
in robotics, Amica is built to be redundant.
Being modular in design means its arm, head,
or torso can all function independently.
You don't need a fully assembled robot.
Built with the future in mind,
Amica's modular mechanics and cloud intelligence
allow it to be upgraded as technology progresses.
So it'll remain at the forefront
of humanoid robotics technology for years to come.
When Amica can eventually stand,
it'll be over six feet in height, weighing 49 kilograms
and using 52 motors across 51 particular joints.
It's an impressive step up, but it's just the beginning.
Indeed, the current Amica is only the first generation.
Like an old 20th century car
compared to a modern day Lamborghini,
there's a long way to go.
The company estimates 12 to 18 months to
develop a walking prototype.
And there are further additions they hope to make.
For example, Amica's voice comes
from her chest, not her mouth.
Because of the 17 motors and cramped electronics,
there wasn't room in the head for anything else.
After several generations of innovations
Amica might be viable for commercial production.
The company maintains that Amica is designed
as a research platform for future robotic technologies
and for education and entertainment.
It chimes with the company's previous robotic creation.
After all, this isn't the first hauntingly humanoid robot
Engineered Arts has released.
Mesmer Robots, for example,
designed and built from 3d in-house scans
of real people, amazed people with their human appearance
slightly less human was the ability
to swap and remove the head.
Yet Amica isn't designed for the conference circuit.
Despite its advances, it'll be at least a decade
until newer versions are frequently walking amongst us.
But the team at Engineered Arts are evidently conscious
of the push, learning from Mesmer,
Amica is distinctly less human.
Gone is the human hair and the fleshy skin.
In comes a translucent plastic skull.
You can even see the nuts and bolts inside.
For a robot claiming to be the world's most
advanced humanoid robot, it's an odd direction to take.
However, as Morgan Rowe, Engineered Arts director
of operations revealed, what we found was when you try
and make it look ultra lifelike,
like our other Mesmer line, it looks a bit more sinister
because it's right in the Uncanny Valley.
But when we created Amica,
we pulled it backwards out of the Uncanny Valley.
Indeed, it's a lesson being learned
by multiple robotics companies.
Even Elon Musk's Tesla bot is designed to be smaller
slower, and weaker than most people.
After generations of Terminators
and androids hunting humans down in sci-fi,
it's understandable we're a little cautious.
Amica is an acceptance that we want an assistant
not a replacement.
Whether it's the Uncanny Valley or the sci-fi zeitgeist
we want to know it's a robot.
After all unscrewing the head of a human looking robot
is more than a little sinister.
It's also a blank slate for new generations
of designers and technicians to have fun with.
There are currently many apps
for vision systems, segmentation
face recognition, speech recognition,
voice synthesis and more.
Amica is the platform to run all those new advances on.
It's an interface between AI and humankind.
You can now purchase or rent Amica for events,
conferences, or science centers.
Although the 100,000 pound price tag
might be a little much for some.
Still, you never need to purchase a replacement
with Amica's modular design, just wait for the updates.
But what do you think is Amica the next step
in robotic innovation, heralding a sci-fi future?
Or is Amica a neat gimmick
but a long way from the advances needed
to truly bring humanoid robots into reality?
Let us know in the comments below.
If you enjoyed this video,
make sure to watch for the next video
on the most realistic humanoid robots in the world.
Thanks for watching.
We'll see you next time.