Robot-maker Aldebaran has teamed up with voice-technology company Nuance to create a new robot that speaks 19 different languages.
(Aldebaran / Nuance robot video)
"He lives his life on your side at home," Marine Fabrea, Aldebaran's head of communications, told Mashable in an email. "You can discuss with him, you can ask him to tell a story to your kids."
The difference between these robots and mindless machines is built-in emotional intelligence, according to Arnd Weil, Nuance's vice-president and general manager of automotives.
"What they are trying to do with the robot is mainly capturing what is the mood of that other person," he said. "It's more like somebody's coming home and he had a bad day, he's angry, so the robot should capture that … and react accordingly."
Science fiction fans nostalgically remember C3PO, a droid who is, and I quote, "fluent in over six million forms of communication". Why not set the bar high, when you are setting the bar?
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth?
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Photo
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'