ROBOTS WITH FEELINGS

Humanoid robots are being developed all over the world for all sorts of purposes - but assisting the sick and elderly are two of the most popular applications. The problem is that sick and elderly people are usually confronted with robots having a cold, emotionless aura. This is where a new robot called KOBIAN comes in.

KOBIAN, is being produced by Waseda University in Tokyo along with robot venture Tmsuk. They are calling KOBIAN an “emotional humanoid robot”, designed to express a total of seven different emotions including the ability to “cry”, be happy or sad, act surprised and angry, etc. It can also able walk around and move his arms and hands, too.

The robot boasts an “expressive face” that is controlled by motors that can make its eyelids, lips and eyebrows move, resulting in a more human-like “behavior."  It’s not able to move around autonomously yet, but the makers aim at further improving KOBIAN to make it available for use in nursing homes and hospitals.

But for now it is sufficiently creepy - which to me is kind of cool. Check out the video...