Humanoid Robot Boy Expresses Emotions & Develops Relationships

A while back, an article was published on Discovery’s Robotics and Artificial Intelligence webpage called 10 Human Traits We’d Like To See In Future Robots. I’m happy (I think) to say that a new humanoid robot boy recently born at the University of California, San Diego has many of these human traits. This humanoid named Diego can not only express emotions, but he’s learning how to develop relationships with people also.

Using the same facial recognition smart technology that is used on Facebook for recognizing people, this humanoid can tell when he sees the faces of people he knows. When he’s smiled at, he can even smile back. And that’s not all. He’s using this smart technology to learn.

By watching what people do, he’s learning more every day. Currently, Diego is planning to be used to help special needs children who need help learning how to interact. However, in the future, as Diego and more Diego-like humanoids are created, they will be taking on advanced tasks. According to post-doctoral researcher Deborah Forster, it won’t be long before Diego will be out of the lab and walking down the street amongst other people.

Imagine the day when you will walk down the sidewalk without thinking twice about the humanoid walking next to you. It’s coming! We’ve already seen plenty of examples of robots doing advanced tasks, but we’ve never before seen one that can express anger, frustration, happiness, and joy – plus develop relationships with people. When you watch the video below, my guess is that you will either think this is awesome or you’ll be creeped out. I’m somewhere in the middle. The moment we start assigning a moral value to a robot and treating it like a human being is the moment I think of The Terminator. Suddenly those sci-fi movies are closing in on us. My question is, are we ready?

The Humanoid Robot Boy Named Diego

Via: [Fox 5 San Diego]