A new development on robotics had been unveiled to the public. Created by the experts from the technology firm Engineered Arts, the robot was presented to perform an accurate facial expression of humans. The reacting robot was called Adran, which exhibits human features challenging for machines to mimic.
The expressions from Adran include several facial reflexes such as jaw movements, eye winking, and even grinning. According to the developers of the Adran humanoid, the facial features of the robot could possibly be specialized into any living person by copying themselves as a reference.
Adran: AI-Powered Robotic Head
PENRYN, ENGLAND - MAY 09: Moulds for robots being built at Engineered Arts are pictured at the company's headquarters in Penryn on May 9, 2018 in Cornwall, England. Founded in 2004, the Cornish company operating from an industrial unit near Falmouth, is a world leader in life sized commercial available humanoid robots for entertainment, information, education and research. The company has successfully sold its the fully interactive and multilingual RoboThespian and the smaller SociBot robot around the world to science centres, theme parks and visitor attractions, and also to academic and commercial research groups where they are used as research and development platforms. However, more recently the company has been building a range of lifelike bio-mechanical Mesmer robots. Built on the sensors and the extensive software framework already developed for RoboThespian, the Mesmer robots can offer some of the smartest animatronics on the market, giving extensive interaction but can also move very smoothly, quietly and naturally too. Developed using Engineered Arts own animation software 'Virtual Robot', Mesmer characters can be fictional, or faithful recreations of real-world people with accuracy possible to the last pore or finest of hairs.
Human-like robots have been a topic for many technological studies and were also a desire for obsession in cinematic entertainment. Many portrayals were attempted in the theatrical field, and tech firms seem to catch up to the ideas presented in those films.
Today, the age of AI-powered robotic humanoids is now dawning. With the efforts from scientists at the tech firm Engineered Arts, our age will encounter the first robot figure with the most accurate expressions of the human face.
The robotic face belongs to a machine called Adran. The development is considered among the most successful robots ever manufactured by the tech company and has functions that compensate side by side with one of their latest creations called Ameca.
Ameca made it to the headlines after being unveiled last November in the United Kingdom. Like the first complete humanoid, Adran was composed of advanced methodologies that made its facial expressions closer to what humans produce. According to a report by DailyMail, Adran was built with 22 custom actuators that enable its eyes and mouth movements as precisely as what people do. The creepy but on-point expressions of Adran were displayed on a recent Engineered Arts video presentation published on YouTube.
Humanoid Advancements and Mesmer Robotics
According to the experts from the robotics company, Adran still needs a lot of work in the future to perfect the various human expressions. The presentation was only a motion test and served a small portion of the Mesmer robot head development.
Adran does not speak on the video because certain connections are still needed to be equipped on its face. During the presentation, the robot only had a total of 22 custom servo actuators, with only five attached to its mouth. The number of the pieces is not yet sufficient for the Mesmer's head to move its mouth significantly while talking.
Mesmer is an exclusive robotic line project by Engineered Arts. Aside from creating the most advanced artificial intelligence, the company aims to develop every single detail with the most powerful and cost-efficient components. The core of Mesmer's technology is derived from the 3D imaging of real people. In this way, the firm will get ahold of the most accurate representation of humans in AI-powered machines throughout the history of robotics.
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