For many years Humanoid Robots have been only seen in fiction movies. However, the art of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence brought the idea of developing human-like robots into reality. Recognizing and expressing emotions, replicating human behaviors, and the ability of performing various tasks are taken to the whole new level in humanoid robots.
There are several companies that have already developed the most advanced humanoid robots such as Sophia, Erica, Junko Chihira and Nadine. Newcomer to the market - Destiny promises to have the closest relations with human beings and help them in their daily tasks.
Sophia
Appearing as one of the presenters on high-level conferences, Sophia is the first robot acquiring a citizenship, as well as acting as an Innovation Ambassador for UNDP.
Sophia is a robot of Hong-Kong based company Hanson Robotics. She can recognize and interact with humans. The robot understands and imitates human emotions and gestures. She sings and over time should be a good accompanying robot for those who feel lonely. She “believes” that robots like her can be an important help for elderly or sick, taking good care of them.
Sophia is a sophisticated example of the AI developments, and her algorithms are designed in a way that Sophia is aimed to become smarter over time.
Erica
A portrait of Erica won third place in the competition of U.K. National Portrait Gallery. She was also taught a method acting and is going to be the first social robot acting in a Hollywood movie. Creators of the robot, Osaka University, Kyoto University and ATR programmed Erica in a way to be chatty and a good listener at the same time. They implemented attentive listening and backchanneling methods, making her a good partner for conversation.
Some of Erica’s functions are limited, especially body movements. However, it is still being developed and improved. Erica is 23, aspires to look and act like a human and hopes to refine her gestures time by time.
Junko Chihira
Created by Toshiba, Junko Chihira humanoid robot works in the tourism industry, in the shopping center in Japan. She does not only look like a human being, but the robot can also perform pretty well on her job. She can answer questions from tourists coming to Japan and asking about sightseeing, directions, timetables, etc. The robot has very advanced interaction skills and the ability to demonstrate various face expressions.
Junko Chihira speaks and welcomes shopping center visitors in English, Japanese, Chinese and can also communicate in sign language. Creators have also developed Kanae Chihiro, which is a more advanced version of Junko Chihiro and will be able to speak any language.
Nadine
With natural-looking hands, skin and hair, Nadine is one of the most human-like robots in the world. She can remember conversations, facts and events. Nadine makes eye contact and in general her upper-body movements and facial expressions are very sophisticated. The robot can speak several languages. Nadine recognizes people and can engage in different conversations while using different personality behaviors that are programmed in the robot.
Nadine has experience of working as a customer service agent in an insurance company and has communicated with thousands of visitors at the exhibition in Singapore.
Destiny
Destiny is a currently developing age-friendly humanoid robot that will take AI and robotics to the whole new level. Destiny creators promise to deliver next-generation robots that can interact with humans at a much deeper level than currently possible. It is aimed to enable AI not only to perform some specific tasks, but to become more general. At the same time the mission of robot creators, Destiny Robotics is planning to make robots accessible for more and more people.
Destiny is a unique combination of AI, robotics, engineering, art, and design. Her appearance is different from regular robots, as she has human-like skin, the ability to communicate and can express emotions.
It creates a standard for Robot to human interaction, making communication much more organic and natural.
Destiny plans to be the first humanoid robot assistant for household use.