Sofia - A Huamanoid Robot

Hi,

This is Anuradha Verma.

Today,  I just want to share some information about Sofia -A humanoid Robot. 

               Sofia - A Humanoid Robot

                       Introduction

Sophia is a social humanoid Robot developed by Hong Kong-based company Hanson Robotics. Sophia was activated on April 19, 2015 and made her first public appearance at South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) in mid-March 2016 in Austin, Texas, United States. She is able to display more than 62 facial expressions.  

Sophia has participated in many high-profile interviews. While interviewers around the world have been impressed by the sophistication of many of Sophia's responses to their questions, the bulk of Sophia's meaningful statements are believed by experts to be somewhat scripted.

In October 2017, the robot became a Saudi Arabian citizen, the first robot to receive citizenship of any country. In November 2017, Sophia was named the United Nations Development Programme's first ever Innovation Champion, and the first non-human to be given any United Nations title.

                                History

Sophia was created by Hanson Robotics in collaboration with AI developers, including Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc, who built her voice recognition system, and SingularityNET, which powers her brain.

Sophia was activated on April 19, 2015. The robot, modeled after actress Audrey Hepburn, is known for her human-like appearance and behavior compared to previous robotic variants. According to the manufacturer, David Hanson, Sophia uses artificial intelligence, visual data processing and facial recognition. Sophia also imitates human gestures and facial expressions and is able to answer certain questions and to make simple conversations on predefined topics (e.g. on the weather). Sophia uses voice recognition technology from Alphabet Inc.(parent company of Google) and is designed to get smarter over time.Sophia's intelligence software is designed by SingularityNET. The AI program analyses conversations and extracts data that allows her to improve responses in the future.

Hanson designed Sophia to be a suitable companion for the elderly at nursing homes, or to help crowds at large events or parks. He has said that he hopes that the robot can ultimately interact with other humans sufficiently to gain social skills.

                         Features

• Cameras within Sophia's eyes combined with computer algorithms allow her to see. 
• She can follow faces, sustain eye contact, and recognize individuals. 
  
• She is able to process speech and have conversations using Alphabet’s Google Chrome voice recognition technology and other tools. 
• Around January 2018 Sophia was upgraded with functional legs and the ability to walk.
• Sophia is conceptually similar to the computer program ELIZA, which was one of the first attempts at simulating a human conversation. 

Sofia's responses are used to create the illusion that the robot is able to understand conversation, including stock answers to questions like "Is the door open or shut?"The information is shared in a cloud networkwhich allows input and responses to be analysed with blockchain technology.

 In short, Sophia is an evolving genius machine. Her incredible human likeness, expressiveness, and remarkable story as an awakening robot over time makes her a fascinating front-page technology story.