At SXSW Interactive, Hanson Robotics showed a robot by the name of Sophia, which at first glance would probably be indistinguishable from a real human being – at least if you put a wig on him or her, the skin folds on the neck and the partly blank stare with one focus would meet. Sophia can show 62 different facial expressions and in order to react reasonably appropriately, Sophia constantly analyzes the facial expressions of her counterpart when she is in a conversation. Sophia can move her own face in so many different ways thanks to the surface material. Hanson Robotics used a patented rubber, also known as “frubber”, for this purpose.
If you talk to Sophia, as was possible at SXSW Interactive, you will of course notice limits, similar to those that most of us are familiar with from a conversation with Siri or Cortana. While Sophia is capable of very thoughtful responses, there are times when she appears to be simply reciting - like reading an encyclopedia article in a perfectly matter-of-fact way. So "Sophia The Robot" is far from being perfectly human...
Very cool. I think it's the best robot so far. VG