(Credit:
Video screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET)
Say salam wa aleikum to an Arabic-speaking android developed at United Arab Emirates University and billed as the first of its kind in the world. It could enter mass production to help people at shopping malls.
The Ibn Sina robot, named after an 11th century philosopher, can recognize faces, converse with people by speaking in classical Arabic, connect to the Internet, and retrieve information. As seen in the video below, it can also exchange kisses with people.
Software for Ibn Sina was developed by a team led by computer science assistant professor Nikolaos Mavridis, with the mechanics by Hanson Robotics. Mavridis says some companies have approached his lab and asked about using the turban-wearing, bearded bot in shopping malls or as a receptionist.
Doubtless Ibn Sina, known as Avicenna in English, would have been pleased.
Thomas and Janet practice a kiss, and fortunately for us, there is no tongue involved.
(Credit: Taiwan Tech)With robots now doing everything from strutting the fashion catwalk to greeting hotel guests, it was only a matter of time before our humanoid friends started engaging in public displays of affection. Exhibit A: Thomas and Janet, two performance bots who made out publicly in front of hundreds during a December 2008 robotic production of "Phantom of the Opera" in Taiwan (racy robot lip-lock video is only making the rounds now).
A team at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology spent three years developing and programming the smooching bots, which with the help of servo motors that pull at the face and mouth, can form six expressions--fewer than the highly expressive Einstein Robot, but sometimes sacrifices must be made for romance. The team used manual molding, non-contact 3D face scanning, and 3D face morphing to make the movements realistic.
Li-Chieh Cheng, a PhD student at Taiwan Tech's Intelligent Robot Lab, told IEEE Spectrum at the recent International Conference on Service and Interactive Robotics that performances like the one featuring Thomas and Janet have the potential to bring advanced robotics to a broader audience.
"Available service robots could be very expensive and are only used at certain places. However, tickets for theater performance are affordable for everyone," Cheng said.
Cheng noted that last December's performance did hit some glitches when motors malfunctioned unexpectedly and signals on walkie-talkies used by stagehands interfered with the network that controls the robots.
Thomas and Janet are clearly going to need to meet up for more kissing practice. To which we say, "Get a room!"
- prev
- 1
- next
