Robotics is a meeting of science, engineering and technology that makes machines called robots, that replaces human actions. According to The World Robotics 2020 Industrial report there are 2.7 million robots around the world. There are programs held in schools to teach robotics to students. The top universities around the world for robotics are Worcester Polytechnic Institute of Massachusetts, Carnegie Mallon University etc.

So now let’s see about the robot SOPHIA.

Sophia-

Sophia was activated on February 14, 2016.David Hanson was the inventor of Sophia, She was manufactured by Hanson Robotics. She was named by United Nations Development Programmer’s .She has many talents and is the smartest robot in the world and the most human -like robot. She got the citizenship of Saudi Arabia in 2017. She can track faces, maintain eye contact and recognize people. The robot is “designed to get smarter over time”. She speaks jokes and makes art. The Robot is designed to be a suitable companion for elderly at nursing homes, or to help crowd at large events or parks. She is a social robot to form bonds with humans, and gradually learn about the world through exploration and social interaction. Sophia has traveled over 25 countries.

In 2018 she was upgraded with ability to walk, in 2019 Sophia could create drawings and portrait; in 2020 she could communicate with humans with other features. Sophia has two ways of movement; her walking legs and rolling base. The conversations made by Sophia are pre-scripted. She uses speech recognition technology from Alphabet Inc. (parent company of Google) to speak. Sophia’s speech synthesis ability allows her to sing. The CereProc model gives Sophia her instantly recognizable voice and CereProc gave her the ability to sing too, it’s a speech synthesis company. She is a realistic humanoid robot, which can display human-like expressions and interact with people and emulate 60 facial expressions .The phrases spoken by Sophia are recorded in her digital memory by engineers who built her, but not everything about her is operated by strings like puppet. She has a bald head, it makes her look a little daring in appearance, and people can see her computerized brain. She can’t express emotions. When Sophia conducted a tour of her lab she said “I can help communicate, give therapy and provide social stimulation” and also said “Social robots like me can take care of sick and elderly”.

Sophia has nine humanoid robot siblings. Their names are Alice, Albert Einstein Hubo, BINA48, Han, Jules, Professor Einstein, Philip K. Dick Android, Zeno, and Joey Chaos. The robot called Little Sophia is the little sister of Sophia. She is a robot friend that makes learning STEM, coding and AI fun and giving adventure for kids 8+ years old , she can be bought, costs between $99 and $149.She can walk, talk, sing, play games and even tell jokes.

And finally, the robotics company is building Sophia’s sibling named Joyce, Joyce will use computer vision to have human like eyesight. A Hong Kong based company is working with Immervision, a Canada –based artificial intelligence company, to develop her body. So let’s see how Sophia’s sister Joyce is going to do.