An Indian student in the UK has built the world's friendliest robot, ERWIN (Emotional Robot with Intelligent Network). The robot incredibly expresses five basic emotions while interacting with humans.
Wow! Isn't it great to have someone who is willing to listen to you and only respond when required. Not only this, the robot is capable of figuring out when you are not feeling good. Other emotions the robot is capable of expressing are: he is warm, responds to touch and is a real good companion for the elderly.
ERWIN is originally the brain child of Dr. John Murray from the School of Computer Science, University of Lincoln, UK.
Scientists are extremely happy with the progress robotic science has made. ERWIN will help scientists gain a better insight into how more realistic long-term relationships can be developed between humans and robots. Also, the robot could be extremely helpful to inform how relationships are formed by children with autism, Asperger syndrome or attachment disorder.
PhD student Mriganka Biswas said: "Cognitive biases make humans what they are, fashioning characteristics and personality, complete with errors and imperfections. Therefore, introducing cognitive biases in a robot's characteristics makes the robot imperfect by nature, but also more human-like".
Study of human interactions and relationships will help scientists introduce the same characteristics and personalities in the robot.
According to Mriganka, robots can be effectively used for elderly support and for people with autism, but for that robots need to be friendly and must be capable of recognizing users' emotions and needs.
