Some of the world’s leading human and robotic minds travel to the United Nations.
At a UN summit in Geneva next week, tech luminaries from futurist Ray Kurzweil to DeepMind COO Lila Ibrahim will discuss AI forever. It’s a stellar selection of speakers, but the real stars, in our eyes, are the robots.
Over 50 of the beasts – mostly from Europe – will be in attendance. They all deserve a place in your dreams and nightmares, but we’ve narrowed the list down to a list of our 10 favorites.
1.Sophia
The <3 of EU technology
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Sophia is arguably the world’s most famous real-world robot – but it’s caused controversy. Saudi Arabia known gave the android citizenship in 2017, giving it more rights than millions of people in the country.
Meta’s lead AI scientist, Yann LeCun, has called Sophia “complete bullshit” and accused the media of promoting “Potemkin AI.” Nonetheless, the humanoid’s influence and fame deserve it a spot on our list. sorry Yann
2. America
Ameca’s eerily realistic facial expressions went viral in 2021. Built by Engineered Arts in the UK, the bot was conceived as a platform for robotics development.
The system integrates both AI and AB (artificial bodies) into a human form and robotic face. The creators of Ameca claim it to be the most advanced human-shaped robot in the world.
3.Spot
Unless you’re hiding under a rock from the AI apocalypse, you’ll spot Spot. The four-legged friend is the main attraction of the respected Boston Dynamics brand and is mainly used for dangerous inspection work.
Despite the cute name and dog-like resemblance, Spot is a menacing creature. Activists have warned the bot could be used as a weapon – especially after it was tested by the French army.
4. Geminoid
Geminoid is perhaps the scariest member of our list robotic copy of its creator, Hiroshi Ishiguro.
Geminoid reproduces the voice and head movements of Ishiguro, who added hair from his own scalp to his android twin. According to Ishiguro, the robot was created to explore what it means to be human.
5. Nao
Nao is a legend in his field and has been wowing observers for almost 20 years. The Bipedal has made headlines with his synchronized dances, stand-up comedy and soccer skills. However, the greatest influence is in education and research.
The device was developed by Aldebaran Robotics in France, which was acquired by SoftBank in 2015 and renamed SoftBank Robotics.
6. Ai-Da
Described as “the world’s first robot artist,” Ai-Da draws and paints with robotic arms, cameras in his eyes, and algorithms controlling his movements.
The android is something of a celebrity in his native UK and was the first robot to speak in the House of Lords. Unfortunately, the publicity stunt lost some of its luster when Ai-Da seemed to fall asleep and had to be restarted.
7. He steals
As a social robot, Furhat communicates with us humans in the same way as with each other: by speaking, listening, showing emotions and maintaining eye contact.
We are particularly impressed by the adaptability of the system. Furhat’s ethnicity, gender, and language can all be altered to create lifelike, expressive characters for multiple purposes. For example, in the image above, the droid appears to be a resurrected Silvio Berlusconi.
8. Roboclette
Everyone loves a world first, especially when it is vital to humanity. That’s why we’re intrigued by Roboclette – the first machine that can scrape off melted cheese.
The system combines the expertise of cheesemaker Eddy Baillifard with the robotic magic of the Idiap Research Institute to carve Swiss raclette.
9. Pepper
Another graduate of Aldebaran, Pepper is a semi-humanoid designed to read emotions.
The droid’s remarkable life has included working in a grocery store, a stint as a Buddhist priest and a speech in the British Parliament. Unfortunately, the good times couldn’t last forever. Production of Pepper will begin in 2021 has been stopped due to weak demand.
10. Stop Seal
Engineer Takanori Shibata’s brainchild, Paro is a therapeutic robotic seal. The device is popular with patients, but raises concerns about using emotional support machines.
Paro secured a spot in our top 10 after beating the Therabot pup for the cutest vending machine at the United Nations.
If you would like to meet Paro or other robots participating in the summit, you can register for a ticket here.
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