\u201cJia Jia\u201d can hold a simple conversation and make specific facial expressions when asked, and her creator believes the eerily life-like robot heralds a future of cyborg labour in China.<\/p>\n
\nBilled as China\u2019s first human-like robot, Jia Jia was first trotted out last year by a team of engineers at the University of Science and Technology of China.<\/p>\n
Team leader Chen Xiaoping sounded like a proud father as he and his prototype appeared Monday at an economic conference organised by banking giant UBS in Shanghai\u2019s futuristic financial centre.<\/p>\n
Chen predicted that perhaps within a decade artificially intelligent (AI) robots like Jia Jia will begin performing a range of menial tasks in Chinese restaurants, nursing homes, hospitals and households.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 5-10 years there will be a lot of applications for robots in China,\u201d Chen said.<\/p>\n
With flowing black hair and dressed in a traditional Chinese dress, Jia Jia looks strikingly real. Yet her charm has its limits and simple questions frequently stump her.<\/p>\n
Still, Chen said his team has made great progress over the past two years in developing her AI.<\/p>\n
She was able accurately to answer a query about the day\u2019s weather, hold basic conversations and recognise the gender of her questioners.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are a handsome man,\u201d she complimented one, but when asked later if she has a boyfriend, replied, \u201cI prefer to stay single.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rapid advancements are being made in artificial intelligence and such products stole the limelight at last week\u2019s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
A range of products were unveiled that can respond to voice commands to play music at home and follow other remote-control orders \u2014 or even think on their feet by accessing and \u201clearning\u201d from the Internet cloud.<\/p>\n
One company, Hanson Robotics, unveiled its life-like \u201cProfessor Einstein,\u201d which has realistic facial expressions and can engage in informative conversations such as lessons in math and science.<\/p>\n
Jia Jia is not quite there yet, but Chen sees a bright future for her kind in China.<\/p>\n
He said growing prosperity was causing many young Chinese to eschew jobs like waitressing, while an ageing population would require more hands on deck in hospitals and nursing homes \u2014 even if they aren\u2019t human hands.<\/p>\n
Chen showed a video of a less life-like, but more functional, robot making and serving tea to team members at his university lab in the eastern province of Anhui.<\/p>\n
Chen, however, dismissed sci-fi fears of future robots getting too smart for our own good.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as this is done in a step-by-step and controlled manner, I don\u2019t think there will be a big impact on society. It won\u2019t harm human beings,\u201d he said.\u2014AFP<\/p>\n
Image: AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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