Say hello to Nadine, the admissions officer at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. She is friendly and will wave hello to you. The next time you see her she will remember your name and your previous conversation with her
Say hello to Nadine, the admissions officer at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. She is friendly and will wave hello to you. The next time you see her she will remember your name and your previous conversation with her.
She looks almost like a person - with soft skin and scattered brown hair. She smiles when she greets you, looks you in the eye when you talk, and she can also shake hands. She is a humanoid (human-like robot).
Unlike a regular robot, Nadine has her own personality, moods and emotions. She can be happy or sad, depending on the conversation. She also has a good memory and can remember the people she met and what that person said last time.
Nadine is the latest social robot model to date developed by scientists at NTU. Its main developer responsible for its creation, Prof. Nadia Tahlman, says that Nadine is equipped with smart software similar to Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana. She can be used as a personal assistant in offices and homes in the future, and can be used as a social companion for the young and the elderly.
A humanoid like Nadine is just one of the interfaces where technology can be used. It can also be virtual and appear on a TV or computer screen, and become a cheap social companion.
With the progress in robotics thanks to improvements in chip, sensor and computing technology, a physical robot like Nadine is expected to be common in offices and homes in the future.
The rise of the social robot
Prof. Tahlman, director of the Media Research Institute, an expert on virtual humans and a member of the NTU School of Computer Engineering faculty who led the project, says that these social robots are just one type of new media technologies developed at NTU that companies can leverage for commercialization.
The robotic technologies have developed a lot in the last decades and are already used in production and logistics. When other countries around the world are facing the challenges of population aging, a social robot may be the answer to the shrinking workforce, when it will become a personal companion for children and the elderly in their homes and even serve as a platform for future medical services," explains Prof. Tahlman.
"For the past four years, NTU has promoted multidisciplinary research in social robotics technologies involving engineers, computer scientists, linguists, psychologists and experts from other fields to take the virtual person out of the computer and create a physical entity capable of scanning its environment and communicating with other humans.
"It's like a real companion who is always with you and aware of what's going on. So that in the future, these social robots will be similar to C-3PO, the golden android from the Star Wars movies with knowledge of languages and morals.
A remote presence robot will allow people to be in two or more places at the same time.
Nadine's relative Edgar, also featured in the New Media exhibition at NTU, features a rear-projection screen for the face, and two trailing arms.
Edgar is a remote presence robot designed to perform the gestures of the human user. By appearing in front of a specialized web camera, the user can control Edgar remotely from anywhere in the world. The user's face and expressions will be displayed on the robot's face in real time, while the robot will imitate the movements of the user's upper body.
Edgar can also deliver speeches by independently running a prepared script. With an integrated webcam it automatically follows the people it meets to encourage them to chat and it provides them with interesting, intelligent and witty answers to their questions.
Such social robots could be used in public sites such as tourist attractions and shopping centers, where they could offer useful information to visitors. The research is led by Prof. Gerald Sitt of the School of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, and the BeingThere program center at NTU. This Singapore-made robot is the result of three Years of research and development.
"Edgar is a tangible demonstration of how a combination of remote presence and a social robot can be used for business and education." says Prof. Sith. "Remote presence adds a new dimension to mobility. The user may project his physical presence in one place or in several places at the same time, meaning that Geogr Pia is not an obstacle.”
"In the future, it will be common to see a lecturer with the lecturer's name or teach large groups of people in different places at the same time, or the student will be able to come to a class or a business meeting from anywhere in the world using a robot as his representative, saving the flight time and cost."
If a number of companies are interested in the robotics technologies, the next step for these NTU scientists will be to see how they can collaborate with industry to bring them to market.”
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They managed to introduce some technologies of our senses to her, in addition to teaching her our movements, and our language processing.
It does not have consciousness as we are aware of ourselves (and maybe it is). The imitation of a thing is similar to human behavior and enough to be a receptionist is possible even before there is consciousness.
For those who want to see the robot in action, search YouTube:
NTU robot