Let This Robot Come up with a Lesson in Facial Expressions [Video]

I actually have approximately three facial expressions: observing computer (eyes glazed), watching TV (eyes more glazed), and gazing phone (eyes focused, brow furrowed). Watching this truly freakishly expressive robot, however, I frowned just a little.

Recently, there was one robot that was better than me at singing and dancing and one who was better than me at bowling. I expect robots to be better than me at those varieties of things, so it didn’t hit me too hard. This, however, is upsetting.

The Actroid-F, the newest version of Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro’s Geminoid robot, observes humans and then mimics their facial expressions. As you’ll find in this video, it does so quite accurately. Watching this robot purse her lips and raise her eyebrow, memories of real, human conversations came flooding back. Flirtations, frustrations, misunderstandings-all the things that were unspoken but can be read inside the slight twitch of some muscle within the face-all of them now, too, portion of the dominion of robots.

And so it goes. Soon, no question, robots will feel joy even more ecstatically and love even more deeply than we humans do, and we’ll be content to move on looking at our computers and TVs and phones.

The Actroid-F is getting her start in Japanese hospitals where she’ll watch patients and gauge their reactions. Someday, hopefully, they’ll be capable of teach patients to smile again. [ PopSci ]

Source

This post is tagged: computer eyes, conversations, facial expressions, frustrations, Hiroshi Ishiguro, misunderstandings