What I wished as a robot den to battle to the end, unfortunately was not. Instead a couple of the most advanced humanoid-like robots spent 5 minutes delivering a presentation that gave background on themselves and even engaged in a song or two.
If you’re at all worried about robots taking over the world, don’t be, these 2 are adorable.
The one on the left uses facial projection technology to convey a mixture of personalities. The one on the right is RoboThespian which you can follow on Twitter. Now in its fourth generation, after 6+ years of development, he’s pretty advanced from the waste up. His outer shell resembles that of Sunny from iRobot. He has individual fingers and joints that move and work like humans do. Perhaps intentionally, as not to scare people, the lower structure is really a metal stand, rather than legs and they’re fixed in place. He’s also given life by a single power cable, so pretty easy to shut down should things go badly.
Here’s 5 minutes of video of the 2 conversing at Viva Technology conference in Paris, designed to showcase the development of robot technology. Many of the robots on the show floor (there’s lots) don’t take human form, instead preferring a functional, rather than a friendly approach.
