Chinese Company Develops Robots with Facial Expressions
2024-06-17
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1Engineers at the Chinese company Ex-Robots are developing human-like robots at a factory in China's northeastern coastal city of Dalian.
2Their goal is to increase the ability of the company's robots to show facial expressions and emotions.
3Robot body parts like arms, feet, and heads are spread out around the factory.
4The parts are made from a soft, moveable material called silicone.
5And human-like robots in different stages of construction can be found nearby.
6Drawings of robot designs are on a wall.
7Li Boyang is Ex-Robots chief executive.
8He said, "We have our own software and algorithm teams."
9Algorithms are commands or rules that a computer program follows. Robots need them to operate.
10Li said, "There are many basic models and algorithms that are commonly open source, which everyone uses."
11Open-source programming is usually freely available to software developers to use in their systems.
12But Li said that his company is centering its efforts on how to get the artificial intelligence (AI) "to recognize and express expressions and emotions."
13In a demonstration, for example, an Ex-Robots worker moved her head, smiled, and stuck out her tongue.
14A human-like robot then copied her movement using small motors placed in several spaces in its head.
15Li said, "We are also working on the foundation model.
16The model we're making is multi-modal and capable of emotional expression."
17Multi-modal AI can process different kinds of signals and can react to them.
18For example, a multi-modal system could react to video, text, sound or touch.
19Li added that it can examine the surrounding environment and produce correct facial feedback.
20Ex-Robots said it takes from two weeks to a month to produce a humanoid robot.
21The robots cost from $207,000 to $276,000.
22So far, the robots' main purpose is to be shown in museums.
23One of the museums is in the same building as the Ex-Robots factory.
24Looking ahead, Li believes human-like robots will have a bigger part to play in the healthcare and education industries.
25He said that mental health treatments like psychological counselling are ways these robots will be used in the future.
26He added that his company is currently researching treatments and information gathering for mental health disorders.
27Li said, "Moreover, I believe that emotional interaction has broader applications in service fields, such as those aimed at children."
28I'm Jill Robbins.
1Engineers at the Chinese company Ex-Robots are developing human-like robots at a factory in China's northeastern coastal city of Dalian. Their goal is to increase the ability of the company's robots to show facial expressions and emotions. 2Robot body parts like arms, feet, and heads are spread out around the factory. The parts are made from a soft, moveable material called silicone. And human-like robots in different stages of construction can be found nearby. Drawings of robot designs are on a wall. 3Li Boyang is Ex-Robots chief executive. He said, "We have our own software and algorithm teams." Algorithms are commands or rules that a computer program follows. Robots need them to operate. 4Li said, "There are many basic models and algorithms that are commonly open source, which everyone uses." Open-source programming is usually freely available to software developers to use in their systems. 5But Li said that his company is centering its efforts on how to get the artificial intelligence (AI) "to recognize and express expressions and emotions." 6In a demonstration, for example, an Ex-Robots worker moved her head, smiled, and stuck out her tongue. A human-like robot then copied her movement using small motors placed in several spaces in its head. 7Li said, "We are also working on the foundation model. The model we're making is multi-modal and capable of emotional expression." 8Multi-modal AI can process different kinds of signals and can react to them. For example, a multi-modal system could react to video, text, sound or touch. Li added that it can examine the surrounding environment and produce correct facial feedback. 9Ex-Robots said it takes from two weeks to a month to produce a humanoid robot. The robots cost from $207,000 to $276,000. 10So far, the robots' main purpose is to be shown in museums. One of the museums is in the same building as the Ex-Robots factory. 11Looking ahead, Li believes human-like robots will have a bigger part to play in the healthcare and education industries. 12He said that mental health treatments like psychological counselling are ways these robots will be used in the future. He added that his company is currently researching treatments and information gathering for mental health disorders. 13Li said, "Moreover, I believe that emotional interaction has broader applications in service fields, such as those aimed at children." 14I'm Jill Robbins. 15Gregory Stachel adapted this Reuters story for VOA Learning English. 16___________________________________________________ 17Words in This Story 18stage -n. a level of development in a process such as building something 19construction - n. the act or process of building something (such as a house or road) 20artificial intelligence - n. an area of computer science that deals with giving machines the ability to seem like they have human intelligence 21tongue - n. the soft, movable part in the mouth that is used for tasting and eating food and in human beings for speaking 22foundation -n. the earliest model from which other models can be designed and built 23museum - n. the soft, movable part in the mouth that is used for tasting and eating food and in human beings for speaking 24interaction - v. to talk or do things with other people 25broader - adj. including or involving many things or people: wide in range or amount