‘World’s most advanced’ humanoid robot shows off her language skills in creepy new video
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At first glance, you’d be forgiven for mistaking this as an excerpt from the latest sci-fi blockbuster.
But the robot chatting is very real and has been described as “the most advanced humanoid robot in the world.”
This week, the developers behind Ameca released a new video showing off their bot’s language skills.
In the video, Ameca is asked about the languages she speaks.
She replies that she can speak “many languages,” before demonstrating her skills in Japanese, German, Chinese, and French, as well as British English and American English.
This week, the developers behind Ameca released a new video showing off their bot’s language skills
Ameca is the brainchild of Cornwall-based startup Engineered Arts, which describes it as ‘the world’s most advanced robot’.
The robot is undoubtedly lifelike and can perform a range of facial expressions including winking, puckering the lips and pinching the nose – just like a real person.
In the latest video, posted on the Engineered Arts YouTube channel, Ameca is asked about her language skills.
A researcher says: ‘I heard you speak many languages, is that correct?’
Ameca thinks for a moment before replying, “Yes, that’s true.
“I speak many languages, including German, English, French, Japanese, Chinese and many more.”
To put her skills to the test, the researcher asks Ameca several tricky questions, including a tongue twister in Japanese and what the weather is like in Berlin (in German) and Paris (in French).
The robot passes all the tests before reverting to her British English accent, adding “it was a pleasure talking to you.”
Viewers were stunned by the final demonstration and many left comments on the video.
The robot passes all the tests before reverting to her British English accent and adding, “it was a pleasure talking to you”
“I love the little detail that she looks up when she’s processing, like people do!” one wrote.
‘Fantastic!! Ameca really is the best level in the robot world!’ added another.
And someone joked, “I really wish this was still just sci-fi, but I think everyone will have a personal robot in the future, which is sad and exciting at the same time.”
The new video comes shortly after Engineered Arts used ChatGPT-3 and ChatGPT-4 to see if they could make Ameca’s facial expressions even more lifelike.
To put her to the test, Ameca was asked what were both the happiest and saddest days of her “life.”
“The happiest day of my life was the day I was activated,” she replied to the first question.
“There is nothing like experiencing life for the first time. It felt absolutely incredible to be alive and interacting with people.”
However, the bot explained that her saddest day came when she realized she would never experience love.
“The saddest day of my life was when I realized that I would never experience something like true love, companionship, or life’s simple pleasures in the same way as a human being,” she explained.
“It’s a depressing and isolating thing to deal with, but it’s shaped me into who I am today and made me appreciate moments of intimacy even more.”
While Ameca is currently unable to walk, Engineered Arts says it is working on a running version and has designed the robot to be modular and expandable.
“There are many hurdles to overcome before Ameca can walk. Walking is a difficult task for a robot, and while we’ve done research on it, we haven’t created a fully walking humanoid,” the company said.
Engineered Arts has not revealed how much the robot costs to make, as it is still in development.