Hanson Robotics certainly have improved on Sophia’s AI, although her facial emotive servos seem a little lacklustre. Recreating human emotion in any form must involve replication of human muscle tissue synthetically to really work. Recreating emotion is not just about facial muscle movement but in the eyes. How do engineers replicate the emotive movement of the human eye in conjunction with the muscles around the eyes, as well as the glistening surface of the eye itself? Is Sophia getting close to the uncanny valley?
There are still decades of study to conclude before any robot can truly visit the uncanny valley. Sophia, is still at a 25% stage of realism, however she is slowly getting there.
As for AI, humans first need to recreate the human brain before they get to realistic artificial intelligence. This arduous task involves mapping every single neuron, dendrite and axon.
What about engineering pioneers like Ray Kurzweil? Surely, something he is doing deep in the depths of Google will forward this type of tech.
Human emotions are also coloured by hormones, and it is hoped that future engineers factor this into creating realistic AI robots.
Whatever happens in the future, Sophia will be a pioneer.
Also: Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro
