Scientists in Japan have created a robot child capable of expressing six basic emotions.
Nikola – who was built to replicate a small boy – has been put together by researchers at the RIKEN Guardian Robot Project and through the ‘muscles’ – controlled by 29 pneumatic actuators – in his can display anger, disgust, fear, and other emotions so he can assimilate in “real-life situations”.
Wataru Sato, the lead researcher said: “Androids that can emotionally communicate with us will be useful in a wide range of real-life situations, such as caring for older people, and can promote human wellbeing.’
However, due to the mechanics of the robot and not have ‘elastic skin’, some of the states – such as disgust – were harder for people to pick up in testing. Currently, the team is working to iron out Nikola’s design, such as giving him a body.
