Ever worry that you spend way too much time staring at, and conversing through, two-dimensional screens? Don’t worry, science has a solution: the SociBot-Mini, a robot with facial features that can conform to any of your friends’ features.
It says something that we just made screens more human, instead of actually going to converse with other humans. Don’t you think?
The SociBot-Mini is shaped like a human torso, topped with a transparent plastic face complete with the curves of a nose, mouth, eyes, cheekbones and chin. The face is backlit with a digital projector that can either display a generic face, o a specific one based off a headshot. Essentially, you can transform the bot into whoever you want, as long as you have a photo of their face.
Just how creepy are you willing to be, is the real question.
Its creators expect the technology to be used for teleconferences or video streaming, where the bot can mimic the facial features of missing colleagues instead of having those people on Skype.
The bot also comes equipped with chatbot software, allowing it to hold simple conversations in over 20 languages. It’s currently not capable of real-time video streaming, but its creators are planning to create a more streamlined version with that capability. Using the SociBot-Mini to talk with a “real” person—without actually having to talk to that real person, like we did in the Dark Ages—is not that far off from being a reality.
They hope to use their creation to add a more human element to teleconferences or even bank and airport kiosks in the future. According to New Scientist, they are also designing a version for home use, in case you were planning on being extra creepy. Which celebrity's face is going to be the most popular choice, do you think?
Source Discovery
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