Growing and learning in this digital age
After spending time with Nao (Softbank robotics) in February I am not in the slightest bit surprised at one of his many skills is the ability to write any word asked, and spell the word as he writes. Through speech recognition programming, the robot is able to perform many tasks, but the one of writing is a profound tool that can help those with literacy skill deficiencies, and of course those wanting to learn a language. Another interesting feature that will support my current research.
Apparently we say a lot with our eyes. I have woken this morning to see a short video which you can watch here of Nao, one of my favourite robots, who now has the option of unpluggable eybrows. It is believed that enhancing facial expressiveness can enhance emotional expression so Nao is now able to express anger, sadness and delight more effectively. Nao was the first humanoid robot created by Softbank Robotics in 2006 and has been continuously evolving since its release onto the market. It stands at only 58cm tall and was designed as an interactive companion robot. While the new unpluggable eyebrow option may not appear a revelation to many, it is yet another step towards giving humanoid robots a more human-like guise by providing them with the option of expressing emotion.