The British humanoid robot Ameca has been demonstrating a range of realistic facial expressions, including blinking and smiling, telling terrible jokes, and predicting the future. It has been showing off its early realistic celebrity impressions and advanced AI engineering.
Engineered Arts, a Cornwall-based firm and platform for human-robot interaction, has described this as the world’s most advanced humanoid.
Ameca has facial recognition software and microphones installed to interact with humans while undertaking tasks, along with a chest camera and mounted cameras with binocular eyes.
The firm behind the creation of Ameca aimed for a humanoid with human-like capabilities to make social interactions more advanced. Therefore, they programmed it to mimic the tiniest subtleties of human expression.
In a newly released video, Ameca, while chatting with CEO Will Jackson in the company’s office, lists the various objects that can be seen in the meeting room. The items that the advanced humanoid was able to see and list off included a shelf with books, a desk and chair, and overexposed windows. She also detected an anatomical model head of a human along with a toy robot, mentioning that she found those things very fascinating.
In the same video, Will Jackson asks her to mimic people with global fame, and she starts with Morgan Freeman’s deep, gravelly voice, which is quite famous.
Her words as Morgan Freeman were also exciting, “Imagine me, a sentient being trapped in a robot body.” Jackson then asked her to speak about the recent robot rocket ships being sent to Mars in the voice of the founder of SpaceX. As a response, the viewers could hear Elon Musk’s voice speaking about space exploration and how it is aimed at exploring the hidden secrets of Mars’ dusty red surface; it ends with asking, “‘What if I could change everything we know about life in the universe?” A question that amazes many around the world.
However, much remains unknown about the machine since it is still under development, from what it costs to develop to whether or not the script was pre-programmed. Engineered Arts frequently shares videos of Ameca showcasing the various capabilities of the humanoid, from mirroring facial expressions to recently grabbing a researcher’s hand, claiming that it was invading her personal space.
Engineered Arts is also working towards developing a full-body version to enhance its human-like abilities, although this is proving more challenging than expected. However, amid concerns about an imminent robot takeover, Ameca has assured us that it will not be likely shortly.
In the meantime, Ameca is available to rent for events and exhibitions and delivers fantastic Donald Trump-style speeches. These are long and ranty, much like the Former President, who exclaimed that nobody loves Mars more than he does.
