Here is Charles – a robot that mimics human emotions

The University of Cambridge has developed a robot named Charles, which can imitate human facial expressions in a very realistic way. Scientists have been trying to transfer our body language to a machine for some time now, and have taken a big step in this direction.

Cambridge specialists have created an entire system to observe the human face. The data is recorded on video, analyzed, and then transmitted to the robot, whichóry reproduces them. The whole process takes a few seconds. It must be admitted that Charles is doing quite well, although perfection is still a long way off.

The Charles robot is somewhat of a byproduct of research into emotionally intelligent interfaces. – We were interested in whether we could give computers the ability to understand signalóin the community so that they can understand human facial expressions, tone of voice, body posture and gestures – said Professor Peter Robinson, who was involved in the project.

– We thought it would be interesting to róAlso to see if a computer system, a machine, can actually reproduce the same features. This is how Charles was created – added Robinson. – Charles is surprisingly realistic, the prosthetics are very good, but nevertheless the mechanisms do not quite resemble human muscles – added the researcher.

Robinson admitted that the systems currently in use do not quite pass the test, but the programs are constantly being improved. Twórcy Charles hopes that in the future it will learn o recognize subtle signals conveyed by people even during ordinary conversation.

This type of work according to someórych scientistsów can result in robots, whichóre will be able to think and feel like a human. This could happen in the coming decade.

Charles may resemble another well-known robot thatóry róIt also mimics human facial expressions. We are talking here about the Sophia robot, whichóra is the work of Hanson Robotics. Interestingly, Professor Robinson współ worked with this company.