Robot-maker Aldebaran has teamed up with voice-technology company Nuance to create a new robot that speaks 19 different languages.
(Aldebaran / Nuance robot video)
"He lives his life on your side at home," Marine Fabrea, Aldebaran's head of communications, told Mashable in an email. "You can discuss with him, you can ask him to tell a story to your kids."
The difference between these robots and mindless machines is built-in emotional intelligence, according to Arnd Weil, Nuance's vice-president and general manager of automotives.
"What they are trying to do with the robot is mainly capturing what is the mood of that other person," he said. "It's more like somebody's coming home and he had a bad day, he's angry, so the robot should capture that … and react accordingly."
Science fiction fans nostalgically remember C3PO, a droid who is, and I quote, "fluent in over six million forms of communication". Why not set the bar high, when you are setting the bar?
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