Humanoid seen narrowing divide between humans and robots of the future

2nd August 2019

By: Natasha Odendaal

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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Sophia the Robot is fast becoming the bridge between humans and robots of the future, helping to advocate for artificial intelligence (AI) research and the use of robotics and AI in people’s everyday lives.

Presented at Duke Corporate Education’s yearly Davos of Human Capital 2019, in Johannesburg, in July, Sophia is deemed an example of how humanity and technology can successfully interact and is an agent for exploring human-robot experience in service and entertainment applications.

This was her second visit to South Africa in as many years.

The brainchild of Hanson Robotics’ founder, David Hanson, Sophia was created to be a research platform for Hanson Robotics’ ongoing AI and robotics research work, help explore the future of AI and lifelike humanoids and engage the public on AI-based robotic interactions.

Unveiled in March 2016, Sophia is Hong Kong-headquartered Hanson Robotics’ most advanced human-like robot, created by combining breakthrough innovations in engineering, AI and artistry.

Most famous for her advanced expressiveness, aesthetics and interactivity, Sophia’s interactions are occasionally autonomously generated and occasionally scripted by a team of Hanson Robotics writers.

As smarter and more widely used AI and humans learn to coexist, the humanoid’s existence is provoking public discussion regarding AI ethics and the role humans play in society, especially when human-like robots become ubiquitous.

An analysis of Sophia is expected to assist in understanding the current capability of robots and what they will do in future in terms of their interactions with humans.

Described as an evolving science fiction character, Sophia is driven by principles of character design and storytelling, cognitive psychology, philosophy and ethics.

She has built-in cameras enabling her to track people’s eyes and faces to maintain eye contact, while advanced AI capabilities and voice recognition, as well as scripts and chat bots, allow her to have natural conversations with humans.

“Technology-driven change is compelling us to become more flexible and open to new concepts and ways of working. We need to adapt to a new work reality in which careers become less linear and far more fluid,” says Duke global markets president Sharmla Chetty.

“We invited Sophia and Dr Hanson to address this important issue of digital disruption facing our country [at the Davos of Human Capital 2019]. Sophia will provoke us to think and talk about how we step over the threshold and start to better understand AI and machine learning,” she adds.

Hanson and Sophia delivered the keynote address at the conference, which attracted more than 500 delegates and had notable speakers such as Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, Nedbank CEO Mike Brown, and South African Revenue Service Commissioner Edward Kieswetter.

“New and unimaginable opportunities will arise. This brings with it a fear of change, particularly in a country with high unemployment and challenges within our education system,” says Chetty.

With the negative perception of robots replacing human jobs in the spotlight, the knowledge of the future impact of robots on jobs should enable decision-makers to start designing jobs that will be undertaken by humans once robots start working.

“I imagined a future world where a humanoid species with AI will not only enhance our quality of life on earth but also play an immense role in human endeavours to colonise and settle on other planets. Sophia is the first in this line of humanoids, the ubermother of a powerful new race,” adds designer Fred Eboka.

Nigerian-born, Sandton-based Eboka designed Sophia’s outfit for the conference.

“Sophia’s Eboka gown represents what the styling for an African humanoid may look like in future – powerful, authoritative and elegant. Each shining bead is made of a chip that is linked to the others with electronic threads, representing the network of connectivity that may characterise this world of the future,” he explains.

Meanwhile, Hanson Robotics is now introducing Little Sophia, the next innovation in consumer robots.

Little Sophia is a tutorial companion that teaches science, technology, engineering and mathematics, robotics, coding and AI to children aged 7 to 13.

The 14-inch tall, expressive, playful Little Sophia aids in the learning of programming using Blockly and Python and electronics and robotics leveraging Raspberry Pi.

Similar to ‘older sister’ Sophia, the junior clone makes dozens of facial expressions, walks, talks, sings, tells stories and jokes and recognises faces, as well as responds to commands and actively engages in conversations.

Hanson launched the Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns to fund the production of Little Sophia, which is in the prototype phase and is expected to be available for purchase and delivery at the end of this year.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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