Prof Nadia
Thalmann (left) posing beside Nadine, a life-like social robot
capable of
autonomously expressing emotions and gestures.
(December 29, 2015) Say
hello to Nadine, a “receptionist” at Nanyang Technological University (NTU
Singapore). She is friendly, and will greet you back. Next time you meet her,
she will remember your name and your previous conversation with her.
She looks almost like a human being, with soft skin and
flowing brunette hair. She smiles when greeting you, looks at you in the eye
when talking, and can also shake hands with you. And she is a humanoid.
Unlike conventional robots, Nadine has her own personality,
mood and emotions. She can be happy or sad, depending on the conversation. She
also has a good memory, and can recognise the people she has met, and remembers
what the person had said before.
Nadine is the latest social robot developed by scientists at
NTU. The doppelganger of its creator, Prof Nadia Thalmann, Nadine is powered by
intelligent software similar to Apple’s Siri or Microsoft’s Cortana. Nadine can
be a personal assistant in offices and homes in future. And she can be used as
social companions for the young and the elderly.
A humanoid like Nadine is just one of the interfaces where
the technology can be applied. It can also be made virtual and appear on a TV
or computer screen, and become a low-cost virtual social companion.
With further progress in robotics sparked by technological
improvements in silicon chips, sensors and computation, physical social robots
such as Nadine are poised to become more visible in offices and homes in
future.
The rise of social
robots
Prof Thalmann, the director of the Institute for Media
Innovation who led the development of Nadine, said these social robots are
among NTU’s many exciting new media innovations that companies can leverage for
commercialisation.