In the past years, projects with the effort to craft humanoid robots that will walk and act like a human apart from just being a replica. Futurists also suggest that such creation of artificial intelligence would also contain self-awareness as well as capabilities, emotions and a full range of high-tech calculable spectrum analysis.
There is an on-going initiative that robots should start walking the earth by 2045. Others predict that artificial intelligence can totally replace humans by then. Robotic technology or AI is becoming more advanced and it may come to a point where a brain will be offered in order to cover the difference with what they try to replicate.
Here is a list of robots designed to match the human capability which proves that we are several steps closer to the above predictions.
Robotic Pole Dancers – Lexy and Tess
The future of entertainment and clubbing is defined when Lexy and Tess, two robotic pole dancers hit the stage. They were first introduced at the CeBIT expo in Hanover by German software developer Tobit. These two ladybots move, dance and make twists in time to music. As per BBC, a dancing robot is worth $39,500.
Actroid – SIT
Actroid – SIT may be a good Presidential spokesperson someday. She can function and interact with people autonomously. Further improvements are about to be implemented on Actroid – SIT. But as of now, she knows sign language and responds to questions which are something that can be considered highly advanced. What’s even more impressive is that Actroid can sit in front of many people and respond smoothly even if there are multiple of questions thrown at her.
NAO
This friendly companion has a height of 58 centimeters and is being used for research and education purposes. NAO was released to institutions on 2008 and became available to public by 2011. Currently, NAO can be used as gaming playmate and home buddy. As of 2015, there are over NAO units being used in more than 50 countries.
ASIMO and Honda P-Series
ASIMO is a robot with space-suit looking appearance. He is the 11th in the line of P-series walking robots developed by Honda. He was released by the company in 2000. The current model has a height of 1.28 meters and weight of about 55 kilograms. In 2005, ASIMO received a significant enhancement which made him run with a speed of six kilometers per hour. Apart from walking and running, this robot can also perform basic tasks such as serving food and carrying objects.
Atlas Unplugged
Boston Dynamic, a Google-owned company together with US Defence Advanced Research Projects developed Atlas for robotics challenge. He was designed to last tough outdoor terrain in a bipedal manner. He is also capable of climbing using hands and feet like a human. The first version of Atlas was released in July 2013.
During those times, the robot needed an electrical and control tether to function. Its newest version which is the Atlas Unplugged now works with battery power and can be controlled wirelessly.
Marta Groening is a blogger and futurist, currently writing for the business blog, Low Code BPM.