On Nov 6 Furhat Robotics announced the launch of its shockingly human, AI-powered social robot capable of natural conversations and realistic facial expressions.
Stockholm-based startup Furhat Robotics has launched a humanoid social robot that is allegedly powered by the "world's most advanced social platform". In terms of exterior design, Furhat basically looks like a smart speaker with a realistic-looking head and neck stacked on top. A face of your choice is then projected onto the head which is designed to react to you as most humans typically would.
After giving this AI whichever face you like, it is designed to be able to carry on a conversation with realistic and incredibly human facial expressions. To start with, Furhat is equipped with pre-designed expressions but more can be learned by the robot to fully wear the hat of any character, inside and out.
This bot is market-ready and can be customised and adapted to any environment. Users can change the face into any person they choose (or animal, or avatar, you name it), adjust the voice – into any of over 30 languages – and even modify the facial expressions. You can develop Furhat's personality however you please. Give it emotions, quirks, even your own voice if you want.
Furhat Robotics showed this social robot off at WebSummit this week in Lisbon, but you may be seeing it soon in business or organisational settings, as the company said that it is capable of working with customers. In fact, Furhat Robotics claims that the robot can be trained to fill the gap in situations where interaction is needed, so keep your eyes peeled; your next trip to the post office may be managed by this conversational, intelligent head.
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